From shallow waters
by catzlovecheeze
Summary: "What do you want from me!" I screamed, face red, hair disheveled. "To play the game…" flashed on the screen. BENDROWNED fic. BEN is back, stronger than before, and has found a new victim. And with it, feelings he didn't know existed…
1. Chapter 1

_Courtney's P.O.V_

"Hey, come on!"

I sighed. Danny was taking sooo long!

"Come ON!" I shouted louder.

"Coming!" Danny yelled from the top of the hill. "I couldn't find the keys!"

Danny rushed down the hill, clicking the car lock button on the remote and stuffing the keys in his pocket as he ran, and I smiled, beginning to run myself. We wouldn't be late, after all.

We rushed to the river, managing to get a spot right on the edge, where we could dangle our feet in. Danny splashed me, and I glared at him, with no weight behind my eyes. I knew he was just playing. We got along, even though my bother was twenty-one, and I sixteen. The age gap had little significance. Danny went to a college near our house, so he stayed at home. He would be a junior in college next year, as I would be a senior in high school. I often teased that I was higher up than him.

But we were not here today to think about school. About two minutes after we sat down, the band on the other side of the river started their music. Soon, me and Danny were both on the bank, dancing like fools. From the looks people gave us, it was clear they thought so as well. We didn't care. We knew we were weird, but we knew we were weird in a good way.

Between insane dancing, where we danced crazily with our whole bodies, and sang along to the words best we could, a ways away from others, as not to bother them, and resting, when we lay panting in the grass, our breath stirring the warm July evening air, a ways away from others, as not to bother them, the sky grew dark, and the stars came out, so that when we rested, we could stare at the diamond-studded sky as our breath stirred somewhat-cooler July night air. The moon was the biggest and brightest in the sky.

But not for long.

After about two hours, the band finished, and within minutes, we heard the first high-pitched squeal, then the BOOM! as a firework was launched and exploded. Me and Danny, tired out, watched, our feet tugged by the river's current, cooling us down from our temporary insanity-by-music to the point where our hair was no longer plastered to our temples, and we no longer were dripping. The cooling of the air in the night helped, too.

The fireworks show finally ended with a lovely grand finale, after which Danny stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled (which I never could do, even though Danny tried to show me countless times) and I clapped with the rest of the crowd along the riverbank.

People got up, began folding up blankets and lawn chairs, lifting coolers and thermoses, and heading for cars.

"You wanna go?" I asked Danny.

He shook his head. "You little nut. The parking lot will be a disaster area. Let's let it clear out."

"Okay…lets walk along the river!" I shouted the later part, enthralled with this idea.

"Let me think about it…okay." Danny chuckled, having said the entire sentence while being dragged along by his sixteen-year-old sister.

We looked along the entirety of the river, "falling" in several times (usually we were pushed by the other), which was actually good, as we were still hot from dancing, and the cool river water helped. We finally dried, and were cooled down to the point we no longer pushed each othe- er, fell in the river.

"Now young lady, what do you want to do with your life?" Yelled Danny.

"I wanna live in a van down by the river." I replied.

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to live in a van down by the river… when you're livin in A VAN DOWN BY THE bwahahaha!" Danny's words were cut off by laughter, unable to hold it in. I laughed too, not just giggles, but real laughs.

As my laughter trickled down to giggles, then disappeared, I moved forward. My foot hit something. A log. It was like a makeshift bridge.

Grinning, I stepped onto it.

"Wish I was light enough to do that." grumbled Danny.

"You ain't fat, you're a head taller than me, and actually have muscle." I chided back.

I got to the middle, and then something in the water caught my eye. What…

I carefully lowered myself to my knees on the log, and reached my hand into the water, pulling out a gray…no way…

"Whatcha got there, Court?" Called Danny.

" A…nintendo64 cartridge!" I called back.

"No way." Danny said optimistically. "Let me see!"

I tottered back on the log, and held up the dripping cartridge for him to see.

"No. Way." Danny said, taking it in his hands, looking at it.

"No sticker…"he mused. He flipped it over, and I stood next to him to see what he was doing.

"It says 'Majora' on the back." He said.

It did.

"It must be Majora's Mask." Danny told me.

"That Zelda game?" I asked.

"Mmhm." Said Danny. This meant yes, for those of you who don't speak boy.

I looked at the dripping game. It was probably totaled, but I felt like it wasn't, a gut instinct, but maybe deeper than that…it seemed like there was a sort of life energy coming from within the game…

"I wonder if it still works?" I muttered.

"Of course not, you baka!" Danny replied, pushing me slightly. "Not after being in that water!"

"Well, you have an N64 at home, and we don't have anything better to do tomorrow…I say lets try it out." I replied. "Besides, I've always wanted to try Zelda. Haven't you?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, then, is it a date?"

"Sure." Said Danny, grinning.

"Who's the baka now?" I asked as I pushed Danny.

We got back to the car to find the parking lot almost completely deserted. Our little field trip had taken about an hour. I held the cartridge. I had dried off the inside best I could without damaging it with the front of my shirt, so now the part over my belly button was crumpled and wet. I didn't want the game to corrode any further, though, if it was still salvageable.

We drove home, blasting music. This was partly because it was fun, partly to keep alert for the five-mile drive home at three in the morning.

We got home, and I set down the cartridge on the kitchen table before face-planting into my pillow. I could hear the "poof" from Danny falling onto his bed right before I slipped under.

Little did I know, as I embraced sleep, another entity within the house finally fully awakened…


	2. We meet Ben

BEN's pov

It wasn't so long ago…

But he had no idea…

When he-Jadsable, was it?-destroyed my cartridge, I was already on the internet. Scratch that. I can't be ON the internet. It is far too vast and complex, even then, to act as a vessel the way the cartridge does. But I was still able to communicate through it and control it on his computer.

And when he destroyed the cartridge…

It did not break my connection with the internet.

I could draw power from the internet to restore myself. This beat at my connection, but I had no other choice. The ashes, scattered in the wind, regrouped, rejoined. Some had fallen in a river, and so they could not rise to join, as they were heavy with water. The others joined them instead.

Finally, I was completely healed. I had luck on my side with the healing of my vessel. My connection, sawed and hammered at by my drawing power from the internet, broke only moments after I became whole again.

My vessel became caught on a fallen log not long after that. I went into a type of sleep that my mind put itself into, to maintain whatever sanity I had left. I was still aware of my surroundings, but did not fully comprehend them. I would only be pulled out if there was something going on.

I could feel the vibrations I the river caused by the approach of the two humans. This did not pull me out; they could be gone soon. I was vaguely aware of the log moving as the smaller of the two walked along it, and could hear murmurs of their conversations, muffled and distorted by the water.

I began to shake off sleep when the human picked me up. I was not immediately jolted awake; the process took time. I could feel the warmth from its hands, hear the conversation between that and the other. The one who held me had a higher voice, I determined that it was female, and the other male, but this held no weight on me. I was still in a haze.

I felt the interior of the cartridge dried by cloth. I registered it, then thought no more of it.

By time we reached what the humans referred to as "the car", I was aware enough to wonder-and care- where I was being taken.

I was rather annoyed as we, as the humans said, "drove home", as the humans had music blaring at a very loud volume. They added to it by inaccurately shouting along with the words.

Finally, the torture ended. The "car" ceased moving, and warm hands lifted me from where I was.

"Don't forget the cartridge on the seat" I heard the deep-voiced human advise.

"I've already got it" replied the higher-voiced human. Her voice was so close I could determine she was the one holding me.

I heard footsteps, and something that sounded like a door opening, and then closing. I felt myself being lifted-stairs, maybe? Then I was set down gently on something flat.

The noises of the humans ceased. I was alone.

But I knew not for long.

I did not sleep.


	3. Time to Play

_Courtney's POV_

"Wake up!"

I took a running leap onto my brother's bed. I had already said "wake up" twice. This would wake him!

I landed on…nothing.

Running footsteps, and then something big landed on me, arms closing around me. Surprised, I shrieked. Then I heard Danny's laugh.

I squirmed out of Danny's grasp, scrambling to the other side of his bed before he could grab me again. I shot him a menacing glare, with no weight behind it, and he smirked playfully. I grinned.

The closet door was wide open. I turned to Danny.

"You were hiding in there, waiting for me, weren't you?"

"Yeah, but don't feel bad you walked-or jumped-right into it. I'm five years older than you, you know."

"And I'm a grade above you." I muttered.

"And I'm in college!" Danny exclaimed, before leaping sideways at me.

I rolled out of reach, and Danny landed on a pillow. I jumped onto his back, and we rolled in a wrestling match for a few minutes, before collapsing into giggles.

"We're both young adults, and we both act five." I informed Danny, once we calmed.

"I know." Danny said, and his voice rang with pride.

I giggled, pulling myself up. "C'mon, I'm hungry."

We had breakfast- Lucky Charms, of course-then dressed, combed hair, blah blah blah.

It was summer, and neither of us had jobs, so we usually hung around all day, or went into town. But today was different.

"Do you have it yet?" I asked, as Danny stood on a stool in his closet, dust falling from the high shelves as he fished around on them.

"Almost…hold on...yeah!" Danny called.

He brought his hands down, holding a dusty Nintendo 64 counsel. He handed it to me, and I set it down behind me. Danny returned to the shelf, jumping down a moment later with a controller.

"Okay! Let's save the world!" Danny shouted.

"Hell yeah!" I shouted.

"Okay", Danny said, before folding up the stool, as I impatiently waited, standing behind him. He turned, then snickered, before grabbing my shoulders, spinning me around, and shoving me into the closet. He slammed the door shut, and I heard him running into the living room.

"Danny! No fair!" I shrieked, struggling with the door handle. It was hard to open; it would always stick. "I get the first turn!"

The door handle finally opened; I stumbled out with a gasp of surprise, then sprinted into the living room. Danny already had the system set up; and was holding his finger over the start button, taunting me.

"Oh no you don't!" I shouted, hurling myself at him. I knocked him backwards, landing on his chest. I scrambled up, sitting on him so he couldn't easily get up and grabbed the controller. I pressed start.

"Hey, offa me, ya little maniac." Danny grunted playfully, pushing me off him and sitting up.

"You brought it on yourself." I teased. "And I won, so there."

"Okay then, play, oh mighty champion." Danny said, sweeping his arm in a dramatic imitation of a bow.

I rolled my eyes. He was such a clown.

The n64 finished booting up, and the mask spun in toward the screen.

"Hey, it actually works!' Danny said.

"Yeah, you baka." I said. "Hey, maybe it'll be glitchy! Glitches are always fun!"

"Yeah, well, if this breaks my n64, I'm gonna be pissed." Danny said.

"It probably won't. But if it does, I'll buy you a new one." I promised.

Danny did like his n64. He didn't really play it anymore, but sometimes he would find old games at thrift shops or garage sales, and then he would play it. In this case, we had found a game in a river. Such a strange occurrence fit such strange children…

"Hey, there's already a save file!" Danny said, bringing me back down to Earth.

I looked up. "Hmm, Ben?" I muttered. "He must've played before.

"Yeah…" agreed Danny.

"Let's not delete it." I said. "Why bother? Let's keep Ben in the game; maybe he never finished, but it was his first. And we were gonna share a file anyways, right?"

"Yeah, we were." Danny said. "Let's keep him in the game."

I clicked down to the bottom file and started typing in "Link". I liked the traditional name for the avatar.

It wasn't like it was weird to me or anything, saving the previous player's file. When Danny was thirteen and I eight, we both got a copy of Pokémon Diamond for the D.S. Both our games were used, and both had a player already saved. Out of respect for the previous player, both me and Danny "kept them in the game," as we put it; meaning we did not erase the file. We didn't play their files either.

The game finished loading, and the text flashed, "A journey in search of a lost friend…"

The game was really fun, actually. I let Danny play a lot when it came to platforming or intense fighting; I wasn't too good at it, and I didn't like it either. It was tedious, and Danny got through it without dying like 300 times. I probably died so much because whenever I was little, and got to a part like that, I would take my game to Danny and have him beat that part for me. Danny, on the other hand, played his games over and over again, so he had in like 2000 hours of practice on this kind of stuff. Besides, I didn't mind watching someone else play a game. It was as fun as playing it yourself, especially if this was the first time you had played the game.

Glitches did pop up, just little things, weird or missing textures, random cutscene flashes. Me and Danny would start shouting whenever something happened. But it wasn't affecting our gameplay.

We got past the first temple, before we got hungry. We saved, then unplugged the game. Then we walked up to McDonalds. We got hamburgers, specifically requesting a toy with the meal. The people there knew us; they gave us the toys with the meal. We took the food to the park.

It took us an hour to eat. It probably would have taken less time if we hadn't been so intent on the battle going on between our action figures. Mine was conspiring with the forces of evil, and Danny's was a secret undercover agent for the Canadian government. It ended up with them both heading on a rocket ship to the moon for a three-week vacation. Afterwards, we gave the toys to two little kids at the park.

We headed home, and got back on the counsel. We got through another temple, but then things started getting weird…

Like, the NPC's started calling us "BEN."

"Did you pick the wrong file?" Danny asked, turning to me.

I shook my head, just glancing away from the monster Link was slaying for a moment to address Danny. "Nuh-uh. They called me Link right before I went into the temple, 'member?"

"Oh yeah…" Danny said.

I talked to another player, who called me "Link".

"It's probably just another glitch." I said.

"Yeah." Danny said, nodding.

I went and talked to the Happy Mask Salesman, who seemed to just be getting creepier and creepier as the game went on. He addressed me as "Link" and "BEN" in the same sentence.

Me and Danny turned to each other.

"This is creeping me out…" Danny said.

"Yeah. The game is getting the files mixed up. Should we delete that one?" I asked.

"Not yet. Let's let Ben play a little longer." Danny mused.

"Yeah", I muttered. It seemed wrong to delete Ben's file just because the game was janked up. We always let the other's keep playing in our Pokémon games…

Wait. Something about that wording seemed…off.

I scanned my memory. I found what I wanted, then I turned to Danny.

"Don't you mean; 'Let's keep Ben in the game?" I questioned.

"Yeah. What did I say?" Danny said.

"You said, "Let's let Ben play a little longer." I recited.

"Did I? Weird. These glitches must be tripping out my brain" Danny teased, before turning back to the screen.

I bit my lip. Danny seemed to be able to shake it off, but I couldn't.

Because although the way Danny worded it seemed to be innocent enough…

I had thought of it the exact same way in my mind.

For some reason, this seemed extremely significant.

"Goodbye, BEN." The happy mask salesman said to me.

I shuddered.

More character development. And stuff's startin' to go down. Gettin' trippy up in here...


	4. Someone new, someone gone

_Courtney's POV_

"What?! NO WAY!"

I looked up from my breakfast to see Danny holding his cell phone to his ear with one hand and doing a rather exuberant fist-pump with the other.

"Out HERE? I can't believe it!"

WTF was he talking about?

"Okay…okay…around one-wait, you mean in the morning, right?" Danny said, sounding completely serious. Then he started laughing. "Of COURSE I'm kidding! Two A.M. it is, heard you loud and clear!" He listened, then laughed again. "Whatever. Me and Court'll be over at one."

He looked at me smugly. "_I_ know something _YOU _don't." he said, in his best imitation of a four-year-old.

"Yeah, well, I'm prettier than you!" I shouted in a high-pitched voice.

He laughed. "How about we're equally pretty, and I tell you the secret?"

"Deal." I said.

He grinned. "Tim, Evan and Jake are moving up here."

I dropped my spoon. "NO WAAAYYYYY!" I shouted.

"YES WAAAYYYYYY!" shouted Danny. His expression mirrored mine. Excited and anticipating.

Tim was Evan and Jake's dad. Me and Danny used to live near them, and we were both very good friends with Evan. He was three years older than me, and therefore only two years younger that Danny. The age difference existed, but was not monumental. Especially since we had been friends since Evan was three. Ever since I can remember, I was a part of the trio. It didn't really matter to them that I was three years younger and a girl; they accepted me into the gang unquestioningly. I loved Evan like a brother. I cried for days when we moved away when I was ten.

Evan visited every summer. Two years ago, when he came up, there was another boy in the front seat. I asked him who it was, and he said it was his half-brother. His half-brother's mom had died over the winter, and his dad now had full custody. He said his name was Jake, and he was kinda a punk.

I was brought out of my thoughts by Danny. "And, little missy," Danny said, "We are going up there at one to help them move."

I pretended to be oblivious, and put on an annoyed face. "YOU can. I am NOT getting up at one a.m."

Danny rolled his eyes. "One in the afternoon, you baka."

"I know." I said, grinning.

I was excited to see Evan…but what would Jake be like? I had never met him.

I found out at one.

Tim and Jake were there, unpacking from the back of the car. I vaguely wondered when the moving truck was coming.

"Hey!" Me and Danny called in unison.

"Hey!" Tim yelled.

"Hey." Said Jake, grinning. He didn't call out, just said it.

I hurried up. "Where's Evan?" I asked.

Tim chuckled. "Eager to see him, hmm?" Then his face changed to serious. "I'm sorry, Court. He's still down in Georgia. He won't be up to Indiana until two week from now. The moving company was hopelessly overbooked. We couldn't get a truck until then."

"Then why are you already here?" Danny asked, confused.

"Well, we needed some maintenance done on the house, and the only openings were now or a week after we moved in. Rather than go a week without electricity, I decided to drive up here with Jake. Jake's gonna let the contractors in and stuff, while I drive down to Georgia to finalize the house sales." He yawned. "I have to be down there by tomorrow morning. I'm scared I'm going to end up falling asleep at the wheel and getting into a crash."

"You couldn't be a day late?" Danny said.

"No, if I don't get there, the house doesn't get sold."

"Then I'll drive you."

All three of us turned to look at Danny.

Tim started shaking his head. "I couldn't ask that of you."

"You don't need to." Said Danny. "But you DO need some sleep, and no crashes. When was the last time you slept?"

"Probably…around 36 hours ago…" Tim said.

Danny shook his head. "I'm DEFINTLY not letting you drive. I slept 'till eight-thirty today, and then from ten to twelve. I'm good on sleep."

"You shouldn't have to do this, Danny." Tim said. "But I think I'm gonna take you up on this."

Danny turned to me. "You'll be fine here by yourself for a little while, right?"

"Yeah." I said. "I'm a senior, you know."

"And if you need anything, Jake here can help you out." Tim said, putting a hand on Jake's shoulder. "Right, Jake?"

"Sure, Dad." Jake said, grinning.

We finished unpacking the car. As we were putting the last of the boxes down, Danny turned to me.

"You can play the game while I'm gone, if you want."

I blinked. "You sure?"

"Yeah, just erase the BEN file."

My eyes widened. "I thought we were going to keep Ben in the game!"

"We were," Danny said, "But the files kept getting mixed up. It was almost spooky."

Couldn't argue that point.

"You can delete that one, because of the spooky factor, and also, you really like playing. You may as well when I'm gone, while saving a file for me."

"Okay." I sighed.

"If you don't want to…you can always rent Black Ops from the video store and play that…"

I made a face. Not my kinda game.

"I think I'll pull Ben out of the game."

He grinned and ruffled my hair.

Me and Jake talked for a little while. I didn't think to tell him about the Majora cartridge.

He seemed really chill, and sorta a bad boy, but not necessarily in a good way. I had the feeling he went to parties where the parents weren't home rather often. But he was really chill; in a way where he just seemed very sure of himself. He didn't look much like Evan. Evan had brown hair covering his eyes and blue eyes. Jake had shoulder-length blond hair and green eyes. His hair didn't make him look feminine at all, though, even from behind. He was handsome, though. Evan was too, but I could never think of Evan that way; he was as much a brother to me as Danny.

I finally hugged Danny goodbye around three, feeling my breath hitch in my throat.

They drove off. I hung out with Jake for about an hour longer, helping unpack and stuff. Then I headed home. I made some food, then slept.

I woke up around eight. I hung around for a little while, cleaning up and stuff, until the N64 caught my eye.

I bit my lip. It would feel weird to push someone else off, I thought as I set it up…

but I did really want to play.

Surely, if he was here, Ben wouldn't have minded, I thought, as I hit 'erase'.

I didn't know how very wrong I was…

The name screen for my character came up.

I typed in: "B-e-n."


	5. Playing alone

_Ben's POV_

Lovely. This girl just decided to erase my file. What a pain.

It doesn't matter, I can always make a new one.

Hmmm…what a strange girl. She calls the next file Ben? Almost the same…

Whatever. Time to have some fun…

_Courtney's POV_

I started playing, but it was pretty boring, since I had just done all this with Danny just a few days ago. I decided to just try to get to where the Link file was. No easy task, since me and Danny had played for about five hours. But, since I now knew what to do, I figured it would be a lot easier. Even if it was somewhat boring, it would be faster, and I would be able to get past the Link file, and actually start on unknown and interesting gameplay. But, until then, it was just gonna be going through the motions.

It was pretty boring, save for the glitches. I mean, I had just been through all of this, literally a few days ago. The glitches - well, they made things a bit more…interesting. At first, it wasn't much, just missing or screwy textures. Those were kinda fun to see. Then there was freaky random cutscene flashes. Those always made me jump a little. I didn't like those so much, due to the jump-scare factor, but they were okay. And, hey, even if they weren't namely fun, they were still interesting.

Then there was the interesting stuff I didn't like. Not one bit.

The NPC's wouldn't call me anything. At first, it was startling every time. Then it was kinda annoying. Then I was used to it. So I don't really know why it bothered me so much. It just seemed like the NPC's were pissed off every time I saw that empty space that should have said Ben. And that made me unnerved.

I talked to the Happy Mask Salesman a couple times, but I tried to avoid him as much as possible. He just seemed to get creepier and creepier as the game went on. Just being around him gave me a bad feeling. Once I saw him in the corner of the screen, and I jumped. I don't know why, but it almost seemed like he was watching me while trying to remain unseen. I mean, he was staring right at my avatar. But, hey, he always did.

That point did nothing to comfort me.

I had been playing for about two hours now, and I was about halfway caught up with the Link file. Somewhat faster, but without Danny here, the platforming and fighting was slowing me down.

The music started getting messed up, too, and I turned down the T.V. volume some. I wasn't likin' this a whole lot. I was alone, in an empty house, at ten at night, with this glitchy game freakin me out.

And the dark windows and silence of the house weren't helping.

But I wasn't tired. Yet. And if I could get to where the Link file was, it would be a lot more fun to play tomorrow.

So I gathered my nerves and kept playing.

The textures kept being funky, the music kept being freaky, and the NPC's kept being pissed of for about forty more minutes.

Then more interesting stuff started.

I would see the Happy Mask Salesman where he shouldn't be. Like, the first time it happened, he was a little ways out of ClockTown, and I had never seen him there before. It scared me to death. I just saw him, standing creepily, watching Link-or Ben, but I just called him Link out of habit- as he crossed the field. I screamed for just a second, I was that startled.

Then I saw him out in the middle of Termina Field. I didn't scream this time, but I jumped, and my heart decided to change it's occupation to that of a jackhammer. It made me way more startled then it should have; more so than before. I mean, I shouldn't have been as scared this time, because it already happened once, right?

Both times he showed up, the music got more distorted than it had been before, and when I got away from him, the music returned to normal messed-up-ness.

The next time I saw him, it was triplely trippy. Because not only was he in a really freaking weird location; a temple, for Pete's sake, in the middle of a freakin' TEMPLE; not only did the music get messed up, like the two past times, but the music got screwed up in a really screwy way. It sounded like the Song of Healing, only…backwards.

And it was freakin' me out.

This game had obviously been played too long. Me and Danny had never played it for three and a half hours straight, like I just had. We played it for two two and a half hour increments, and gave it an hour to cool down in between. This cartridge was already glitchy, and it might be getting kind of hot, which could make it more glitchy.

Okay, that meant I was done for tonight. But I wanted to get out of the temple. I didn't like the thought of leaving Link here while the Happy Mask Salesman could apparently just merrily glitch himself in here. It was silly, but I wanted to get Link to ClockTown before I saved. The Happy Mask Salesman usually resided in ClockTown, but he was supposed to be there.

I started out of the temple, the Happy Mask Salesman watching me leave.

I didn't like that.

On the way out, I saw this weird statue-thing in a corner. I went up to it, and it was on some little gold-brown pedestal thing, wearing the same clothes as Link, as well as a really creepy expression.

I disliked it nearly as much as the Happy Mask Salesman.

I suddenly just wanted to get the hell out of that temple. I didn't care about breaking pots for rupees, I didn't want to have to kill any more silly little enemies- I would just outrun them. I just wanted to get out of the temple. These might just be glitches, but I did NOT like them. Not at ALL.

I turned Link around and started to run out of the temple, when suddenly the little statue thing disappeared. I mean, it was just there one second, and then gone the next. There was no warping or disappearing animation, it was just gone.

I just ran the rest of the way out of the temple. It wasn't that that scared me, really, I was already freaked out. It was just everything: all the weird glitches this game was pulling, coupled with my being alone in a big house at night, with darkness shining in through the windows; it was all just too much.

I got to ClockTown, thankfully, without seeing the Happy Mask Salescreep again. Or that little statue.

I unplugged the counsel and put it away, along with the cartridge. I usually just set the cartridge on top of the entertainment center, but I wanted to put it away in a drawer tonight.

I was getting pretty sleepy, but I got online first, and Googled "Link statue from Majora's Mask".

I found out that it was called the Elegy Statue. You got it later in the game by playing a song called the Elegy of Emptiness.

That didn't seem to fit, and did at the same time. The statue seemed empty, but at the same time, it didn't…

I was too tired to deal with this. I still had a half-hour in me, but I always spooked easier when I was tired.

I didn't want to think about Majora's Mask right now, because then I would start thinking about glitches, and then I would think of Mr. Statue and Mr. Creepy-Smile-Masks Salesman, and then I would have nightmares. Maybe. But I wanted to take no chances. I didn't want to dream of those glitches.

So, I turned on the T.V. to Nick at Nite, and made myself concentrate on the show. Then I made myself think of what had gone on in the episode as I got ready for bed and as I went to bed.

But I was still unnerved as I fell asleep.

Catz here. Sorry for the wait for this chapter! Let me know what you thought of it! Also, sorry if I'm getting aspects of the game wrong. I've never played Majora's Mask, actually...


	6. Two's Company

_Courtney's POV_

I didn't have nightmares, thank God. But I did wake up with a start this morning. I dunno why; I didn't have an alarm clock set, and nothing happened that could have jarred me awake.

I was hungry, so I went downstairs to eat something. I passed the living room, and thought about playing while I was eating. I decided not to. I was still really shook up from last night. Instead, I figured I would go over to Jake's house.

I ate, and headed over there. He was awake; no surprise, it was one now, I woke up at noon.

He was trying to find his gameboy in one of the boxes; I helped him find it.

"I can't do anything else for entertainment;" he explained to me, "Since the electricity isn't working yet. The electrician's coming over tomorrow, but until then I'm gonna play this, since it runs on batteries."

"Couldn't you also read or something?" I asked. He had said he couldn't do anything else for entertainment, so I just wondered.

He snorted. "I don't do that kinda stuff." He said.

"What about for school?" I asked.

"I look up a summary. Or have someone tell me what happened." He said.

We did end up finding the gameboy. I watched him play for about two hours, then we went up town to get something to eat. He wasn't goofy like Danny, so I felt weird being goofy.

"Is there anywhere around here to go?" He asked when we finished eating.

"There's a park down the road." I said.

"That's all? No nightclubs, or anything like that?" He asked.

"Uh, no. There aren't any nightclubs here."

"Oh." He said. He looked bummed.

I didn't go to nightclubs, but I thought you had to be 21 to get into them. Evan had said that Jake was a year younger than him; maybe I was mistaken.

We went down to the park. We hung out there for a little while, went on the swings and stuff.

Randomly, after about a half-hour, he asked me, "Do you have a boyfriend?"

My heart rate picked up. Oh my gosh, did he like me?

"Uh, no." I responded. "What about you?"

"Nope." He said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Just wondering." He said.

Now how was I supposed to interpret that?

We finally headed home around five.

"Do you need any help unpacking or anything?" I asked.

"I'm fine. You can hang out here for a little while, if you want." Jake said.

"No, I should probably get home. See ya later!"

"Bye."

When I got home, I called Danny.

"I'm just gonna stay down here with them until they come up, okay? It's only two weeks, and they still have stuff to pack." Danny said.

"Okay, Danny. Just remember to answer your phone. I already miss you."

"Okay, kiddo. I miss you too." Danny said.

"How's Evan?" I asked.

"He's doing fine. I'd let you talk to him, but he's asleep right now. He's been packing all day. It tired him out."

"Drat. Well, maybe tomorrow." I said.

"Yeah," Danny said. "Hey, did you play Majora's Mask yet?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to get to where the Link file is. It'll be more fun to play then, since it'll all be new." I said.

I didn't tell him about the glitches. I just felt like I shouldn't.

"Okay. Have fun playing it. I oughta go, Court. Love you."

"I love you too, Danny. Bye."

"Bye."

I flipped the phone shut, my heart heavy. I missed Danny a lot. He wasn't only my brother, he was my best friend. We lived in a small town with nearly no other teenagers. The only other ones here considered me strange (which I am), so we didn't really hang out.

I looked over at the drawer that held the Majora game. I had calmed down completely now; and they were just glitches. So, why not try to get to where the Link file was?

I pulled out the counsel and started setting everything up.

I put the cartridge in the slot and hit the power button, bracing myself for glitches.

And got one as soon as the save files came up.

Catz: Wow, that took forever to get up! Eight days! Sorry, Skittles. Technical complications. So, I gave you a cliffe, because everyone jsut LOVES cliffes ;). Chapter seven will be up probably tommomorow. :)

Bye-bye, and review! :)


	7. Confusion and Discovery

Catz: Yes, this was supposed to be up yesterday. Sorry!

_Courtney's POV_

I gasped. The BEN file was back. It was on top, where the Link file should have been. The stats were not Link's anymore, but BEN's. My file was still Ben.

My heart thudded. How did this happen? Did the game still retain some memory of the BEN file? Was the Link file truly replaced, or if I chose it, would it go back to Link?

I found that I wasn't so much scared as I was angry. Me and Danny had spent a long time on that file, and now BEN glitched it all up. I knew Danny had wanted to play that when he got back, and now he couldn't.

I realized that he could play the Ben file with me, and that made me feel somewhat better.

That was, he could play it with me if the glitches didn't ruin it first. They definitely seemed worse on the Ben file than the Link file.

Well, maybe the game had just put up BEN's stats, and it was actually the Link file. I chose the BEN file, just to see.

The game immediately froze up. Usually this would have made me mad, but I was startled this time. This was because the game started making a high-pitched squealing noise. I clapped my hands over my ears, and the noise got louder. I took my hands off my ears, wincing, as I scrambled to my feet and ran the two steps over to the T.V. to turn it off. Just as I put my finger on the power button, the noise stopped. Startled, I hesitated to push the button.

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" flashed on the screen, as skull kid's laugh played. That scared me so bad, the laugh did. And wasn't that the message you get if the moon crashes into the Earth?

The game started loading, the mask spinning in, with the whoosh noise.

Why was it re-loading? It already did this…

I brushed it off as another glitch as the save files came up.

The Link file slot was now completely empty. I tried clicking it, just to see what would happen, but it didn't do anything. Usually, it would let you start a new game with a blank file, but this literally did nothing at all.

The Ben file was still there, and all the stats were normal, as far as I could tell. I clicked it.

I started in the same temple that I had deliberately left before.

I started to slightly panic. This was so weird! I had left here on purpose because it freaked me out that the Happy Mask Salesman was in here, and now I was back.

I was in the exact location where I had seen the Happy Mask Salesman, too. It was actually the very place I had turned and gone back, out of the temple.

It must have been just a glitch, and it wasn't that severe of one; starting somewhere you had been before instead of where you saved. And it wasn't that big of a glitch; at least, not for this cartridge.

I turned around, just a routine check for enemies and pots (for rupees).

As soon as Link had turned 180, I screamed.

Standing just a few feet behind me were the Happy Mask Salesman and the Elegy Statue, side by side.

My heart started beating fast, and I dropped the controller and physically turned around so that my back was facing the T.V., staring at the wall to try to calm down. I don't really know why I turned around; I guess it just seemed like the quickest and most efficient way to remove myself from that situation. If I had just looked down, I would have been tempted to look up.

I was really glad that I hadn't left the window's curtains open, so I didn't have too see the T.V. screen in the glass's reflection. I concentrated on breathing evenly and deeply, trying to return my heart rate to normal.

Once I had finally calmed down, I turned back to the screen.

And screamed again.

They were _right in front of me_ now. And I mean, like, where all I could see was the Elegy statue's face and the Happy Mask Salesman's stupid hands doing that terrible animation. I immediately turned around again, unthinkingly, not wanting to see that.

I stared at the wall for a few minutes, trying to calm down. I couldn't, though.

I forced myself around, but didn't look up, instead staring at the floor. I didn't look up as I picked up the controller, turned Link around 180, and started running in the opposite direction. When I judged myself to be a safe distance away, I looked up. Link was away from there now, and I turned around again. The Happy Mask Salesman and the Elegy Statue were now far behind me. I turned around again and started running again.

I ran through a door that should have led to farther in the temple.

But I exited into Termina Field.

I had never seen this part of the field before. The game said that it was Termina Field when I first entered, but I didn't remember this part of the field. I looked around, and there was literally nothing here; just grass. No NPC's, no enemies, no freakin' trees. There was absolutely NOTHING HERE. Not even music. The T.V. was silent except for the sound of Link running.

I wandered for a few minutes, going in a straight line, knowing that Termina Field was only so long in any direction. But after like three minutes, Link was still running. There was still nothing here.

I looked in my inventory, for my map, but it wasn't there. Figures.

I was mad. So, what happened now? I couldn't stay here if there was nothing to do, if I wanted to get anything at all accomplished. If I turned of the game and then turned it back on, would Termina Field be back to normal? Of course, I wouldn't still be in Termina Field, since I hadn't saved there. But would I be in ClockTown, where I had last saved, or would I be back in that temple? Would the Happy Mask Salesman and the Elegy Statue be there, or would they be gone? Or would I be in a different place entirely? Maybe I would end up in Termina Field, just because the game had me start there.

I turned around, looking for any distinguishing features, and found none. But I did notice there were no clouds. None that I could see, anyway. I looked up, to check above me. There were none there, either. And the moon was nowhere to be found. The counter was still there, but without the moon, of what significance was it?

I looked for my ocarina, to play the song of soaring or something, but it was gone, too.

Frustrated with the lack of- well, everything- I shook the controller, shouting at the screen, "Something HAPPEN!"

And something happened.

I heard a noise behind me, and saw the Elegy statue finish a warping animation, appearing behind me. Staring at me with those empty, overflowing eyes. The screen was no longer silent, but the reversed song of healing was now playing.

I ran.

The statue kept warping behind me, the terrible song only broken by the sound of the warping animation.

I tried to think. Maybe if I stopped running the statue would stop following me. I tried it.

I could see that the statue was right behind me, almost touching Link. The music started to get louder and louder. I ran again, and the music turned down, but the statue kept following me.

I turned abruptly and ran around it. In the distance, Termina Field looked normal again. I kept running. I vaguely wondered if running in zigzags would help me avoid the Elegy statue. I figured if it didn't work for the much less-malicious crocodile, it wouldn't work for the Elegy statue.

There were some trees to my left ahead. I was fast approaching the nearest tree. I ran past it and screamed at the top of my lungs.

The Happy Mask Salesman was right behind the tree.

I veered to the right, trying to avoid any more trees.

And came face to face with the elegy statue.

I screamed. Then, once my air ran out, I heard the reverse song of healing playing.

I lunged forward, for the N64's power button. I hit it.

The game stayed on.

I screamed again, but the music got louder, competing with me. I hit the T.V.'s power button.

The screen stayed on.

I tried the volume controls. They had no effect.

My ears were bleeding. Even on max volume, the T.V. was NEVER this dang loud. I pulled the plug on the N64. Nothing. I pulled the plug on the T.V. Skull kid's laugh began playing on loop, slightly louder than the reverse song of healing.

My ears hurt, and I was scared. I had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was, it was terrifying me. This wasn't just glitches, it seemed almost…paranormal.

Suddenly, a very confusing picture made sense.

_This game was paranormal_. It was messing with me, scaring me, probably watching me react. That's why the glitches were so creepy and off-the-wall. That's why they were so physiologically jarring. And that's why the freakin game wouldn't shut up.

Suddenly, I was furious. Whatever it was was messing with me, scaring me, and hurting my ears.

Irate, I screamed at the Elegy Statue, "YOU FATUOUS, ODIOUS, SADISTIC, ROUGHSHOD _PSYCHOPATH_!

The screen went black.

I was surprised to say the least. I hadn't expected that.

As I stood there, staring at the black screen, the adrenaline started draining from me, and I was abruptly exhausted. I felt like I had just run a marathon.

I kicked the controller. It didn't do anything; I was barefoot. Then I went to bed, not putting the game away, not brushing my teeth, not changing into pajamas. I just walked on heavy legs into my room, flopped down, and was out.

One puzzle had been solved. I had beaten one level.

But that opened a whole new level.

And this one was tougher.

Catz: A nice long one for you guys. I'll try to update soon. Review, please!


	8. BEN once more

Catz: Another chapter already. I'm on a roll.

_BEN's POV_

I remembered much now of this world now; I thought as the girl set up the game. I hadn't when they found me. I hadn't remembered even what a car was. Now I remembered so much.

She started the game up. I could see her watching the mask spin in. I chuckled. I had set up the save files. _My_ save file.

The girl's eyes widened, and she gasped. Oh, how wonderful! She was already paranoid from earlier playing; I had been watching her play this game this entire time.

She seemed to consider something, then she clicked my file.

Why? That IDIOT! She deleted my file; now she wants to play it? NO!

I made the game freeze, with a high- pitched squeal. She clapped her hands over her ears, wincing. I turned it up, so she would have to hear it anyways. She scrambled over to the screen, heading for the power button.

Ah, ah, ah. That's a no-no.

I cut the noise. She hesitated.

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" I asked onscreen. Let her make what she could of that. I made Skull Kid's laugh play. She jumped, scared.

Then I made it restart.

I watched the girl watch the game restart, confusion on her face. I had to admit, she was very pretty, especially when she was scared. I would have to insure that happened.

And it did. When she selected her file and ended up in the temple, she looked startled. She looked very pretty with wide eyes. And then when she screamed after turning around and seeing me and the HMS: it was exhilarating. I loved frightening humans. They were so stupid, so scareable. All you had to do was mess with them a little psychologically, and they were paranoid off the charts.

She turned around; I felt almost mad. Stupid human; she'd get herself easily killed in combat. But in this case; it was useful to me. I moved in.

She screamed again. And turned around again.

Her hair was long. It looked soft. I wondered if it was. If only I could touch it….

Wait.

What the hell?

Why did I want to touch this girl's hair? Certainly, I knew she was pretty, but that was a simple observation!

I pushed it aside as she turned around, looking at the ground. She turned Link-or Ben- around 180, and started running. She eventually looked up, looking relieved when she turned around and saw that me and the HMS were now a ways away.

She headed for a door.

Time for fun.

She should have gone farther into the temple. But instead, I sent her into Termina Field. Or, to be more specific, an empty Termina Field. She was already disoriented from ending up in a place other than were she expected to end up; this would further disorient her.

She started running. And kept running. And kept running.

What was she hoping would happen?

She looked in her inventory. Probably for her map or ocarina, something to give her a sense of direction or get her out of here. Too bad. I had taken everything useful. She started looking around. She looked up. I had even taken the clouds and moon from her. She looked in her inventory again, getting frustrated. She shook the controller – that was great; I love human reactions - and shouted; "Something HAPPEN!"

Ah, as you wish, my lady.

She turned around, her eyes wide with the startlement of hearing the warping animation. I had my lovely song of unhealing start playing as I appeared behind her. She ran, and I chuckled as I followed her.

She stopped. I took the opportunity, warping right behind her avatar, the music increasing as the space between us decreased. She took off again, and I kept following her.

Suddenly, she turned and ran around me. I hurriedly made Termina Field behind us look normal. Throw her for a loop.

Wonderful! She took it, running for a stand of trees. She ran past the first and screamed.

The HMS strikes again.

She veered off sharply, trying to get away.

And almost crashed Link into me.

Yeah, I can teleport instantaneously. I RUN this game. I only warp behind her for the theatrics, to make her think she has a fighting chance. Same with Jad, the fool. He uploaded videos, actually tried to stop me. If I had been more attentive, he would have never burned the cartridge. Right before he managed that, I deleted all the videos he had uploaded, as well as his YouTube account. In short, it was as if he had never existed. He couldn't re-upload them; I had deleted them off his hard drive and capture card, too. He might have made another yt account, but with no evidence, no one would believe him. It would be nothing more than another made-up fable.

She screamed, and I smirked as she drew breath and widened her eyes at hearing the now-familiar melody.

She went for the N64's power button, hitting it, evidently deciding she'd had enough.

Now, we couldn't have THAT.

She screamed when nothing happened.

Now now, careful, dearie! You won't be able to hear the beautiful music if you scream!

I turned it up for her.

She went for the power button. I steadily increased the music, and she went for the volume controls.

She winced, the music hurting her ears. I almost felt bad for her. Humans were so fragile.

She pulled the T.V. plug, her last option.

I played Skull kid's laugh. On loop.

She stood, her face full of terror and slightly confused. How beautiful…

Then realization dominated her features.

What was she thinking about?

Then she was angry.

Staring right in my eyes, she screamed at me – not at the screen, at the game, at me -"YOU FATUOUS, ODIOUS, SADISTIC, ROUGHSHOD _PSYCHOPATH_!"

I felt incredibly shocked. I let the screen go black.

She stood there, then kicked the controller and left, but I hardly noticed.

She thought I was a fatuous, odious, sadistic, roughshod psychopath?

I mean, I was. So I don't know why it bothered me that she thought so.

I suddenly realized why.

It was because she had insulted me, and screamed at me.

She was angry with me.

I didn't want her to be angry with me. And I didn't want her to be scared of me.

…

What was wrong with me?

Getting a crush on a human!

HUMAN'S got crushes. I was an ENTITY. More powerful, more intelligent, and all around better then humans. I couldn't get crushes.

I was being a fool. This girl was unusually beautiful, and I was a male, even if I wasn't a human. So, this was clouding my vision, making me want the girl.

I sighed. I had to forget this human emotion. That wouldn't be easy; human emotions were very strong, and usually only strengthened with time.

But I couldn't be tied down by such things.

And I knew I could overcome it.

After all, I was stronger than humans, so why shouldn't I be stronger than their emotions?

I sat back into the darkness, smiling.

She would mean no more to me then Jadusable did.

A toy, to be broken and discarded.

After all, that's all humans were.

Catz: Sorry if this seems kinda rushed. I haven't had a whole lot of BEN chapters, so I haven't really developed his character. But I don't want to spend a whole lot of time on character development, either. I wanna be able to get onto the fun stuff. Hehe.

No, I don't mean that in a dirty way! YOU PERVERT! This is rated T, remember?

BEN also isn't like he was before. In chapter two, he was more...formal. I dunno…this just seems to fit him better.

So, does this seemed rushed in any way? Let me know, please!


	9. Movies and Clock Town

_Courtney's POV_

"What do you want to do?"

"I dunno."

I was over at Jake's house, and so far we had succeeded in doing absolutely nothing. I was lying upside down on the couch, and Jake was lying on the floor.

"Can I play your GameBoy?"

"It's dead."

I groaned inwardly, staring at the walls, trying to concentrate on the wallpapers patterns, the trees outside, the noises all around me. I tried to coordinate my breathing with Jake's, so when he breathed in, I breathed out, and vice versa.

The very reason I had come over to Jake's was I needed to be distracted. I did not want to think about my paranormal game right now. I knew I would have to deal with it eventually, but I was still overwhelmed from the last encounter.

I had no problem believing that the game was paranormal. I had always believed in ghosts; just a month ago, Danny and I had gone on one of our regular ghost hunts at a supposedly haunted hotel. We went on these often, with our little video camera. Usually we didn't get anything; but once we went to a graveyard, and it sounded like there was a little kid giggling on the tape, even though we hadn't heard anything while we were there.

Geez. With all the creepy places I go to, you would think I could handle this.

But I couldn't. Graveyards are supposed to be creepy. Just like hotels that you find on a haunted hotel website. Also, I got freaked out everytime something HAPPENED on a tape.

But games WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE PARANORMAL. Games should not be able to act like that, and if you didn't know they were paranormal, that made them really freaky. It reminded me of a movie I had seen, Short Circuit, where the robot comes to life. The characters discussed it.

"Maybe it's pissed off."

"It's a machine. It doesn't get happy, it doesn't get sad, it doesn't get pissed off, it just runs programs."

Yeah. Video games are just supposed to run programs.

Ugh. I had to stop thinking about this. I was getting jumpy.

"We have to do SOMETHING, Jake."

"Do you have anything to do at your house?"

I thought. Yesterday, I might have told him about the game. Now? No way.

I had put the game system away this morning, not wanting to look at it.

"Ummm…we have some movies." I said.

"Cool. You wanna go up there?" He asked.

"Okay."

We walked up to my house. Jake looked around in that chill way he had.

"This place is pretty dope." He observed.

"Thanks."

I set up the movie, being careful not to touch the Majora cartridge, which was in the same drawer as the DVDs.

I put on "The Day After Tomorrow." I turned off the lights and lay on the couch.

Jake lay next to me.

That made my heart freak out. I think I liked him.

And judging from how he was pressed up right next to me, he liked me too. Or he was just really cold on his right side, and was using me as a hot-water bottle.

The movie did, thankfully, take my mind off the cartridge, as did Jake's presence and his occasional chuckles at the movie's dialogue.

At the movie's kissing scene, I felt Jake shift next to me; my face got red. It was uncomfortable watching a make-out scene with Danny in the room; imagine while lying next to a boy you like.

After the movie finished, Jake got up, and I did too.

"What time is it?"

I looked at the wall clock. "Like, almost four."

"CRAP! One of the contractors is gonna be there at four! I forgot. I gotta go. Thanks for the movie. Bye."

"Bye, Jake."

He rushed out the door. I closed it behind him.

I had calmed down sufficiently, and I think I had this figured out.

The game was paranormal.

That's all I had.

Okay. A paranormal game.

Me and Danny had thought about putting our tapes of haunted places online, but couldn't figure out how to, since it was an old-fashioned camera with tapes.

But this wasn't a tape.

I had seen footage of people playing games, like Minecraft, online.

Maybe I could do that.

I did some research online and found out I would need something called a capture card. I went uptown and found one at some big electronic store. Then I came home and made a YouTube account.

'Okay, you little bastard,' I thought, plugging the capture card into the N64, 'let's play.'

I was still mad at the game. But I wouldn't say that out loud to it. No, I was going to pretend I didn't know. Let the game think so too.

The mask spun in with a shriek. I jumped.

There were two files now.

BEN, on top, and YOURTURN, on bottom.

I clicked YOURTURN.

I started out in some sort of janked-up version of ClockTown. It was ClockTown, but there were no stands or NPC's or anything.

I didn't have a counter, but I don't think I even had the normal three-day time limit in this glitchy, paranormal game. I looked up, and I couldn't see the moon.

I also couldn't leave. Every time I tried, it just took me to another part of ClockTown.

There was nothing here. Nothing. No stands, no NPCS, no Happy Mask Salesman, no Elegy Statue.

I felt very alone. But I kept pushing forward.

I did this for maybe a half-hour, just being teleported all over this weird Clock Town, with absolutely no music, no sound, just a creepy silence. Then I tried to go into a store, to see if something would actually happen.

And something did.

I fell into the laundry pool from the air, and I sank. I couldn't move Link, I couldn't do anything. Above me, I could see that the Moon was very close to the Earth, about to crash, although I still had no counter.

I looked down.

And saw the Elegy Statue.

He was standing upright at the bottom of the laundry pool.

My heart beat faster.

Link sank down to his level, staring into his eyes.

As I did too.

Then Link apparently ran out of air, because he did his drowning animation, falling to the Elegy Statue's feet at the bottom of the pool.

The screen went black. Then the mask spun in with its normal _whoosh_ sound.

The loading screen came up.

The files were now,

"BEN" on top.

And below it, "Drowned".

I freaked out, and quickly reached for the power button, turning the N64 off.

And was left staring at the black T.V. screen, shocked and confused.


	10. Acceptance and playtime

_BEN's POV_

I tried to loathe the girl as she packed up the N64, as well as my vessel. I tried to remind myself that she had deleted MY FILE, taken the only reminder of who I once was.

'She didn't know,' interjected a very annoying, very-sigh-reasonable voice in the back of my mind.

I ordered the voice to shut up. I watched her until the drawer closed.

Geez, she was pretty.

I had been trying to forget these damn human feelings. I was strong, too strong to feel like this, too strong to be tied down this way.

But human emotions are strong, and grow stronger with time. And soon I found that I couldn't forget these feelings.

Hmmph.

Crap.

Well, if this wasn't going to work, maybe I could live with it. After all, it did make me feel nice in a way I hadn't ever felt. But it also seemed strangely familiar…it reminded of me of before I drowned…when I was alive, a hum-

No. I wouldn't go there. Humans were inferior creatures. I was blessed to have escaped being a human, and had no desire to be one.

I had told myself this so many times before. And before I had believed myself. I had been one hundred percent sure.

I was overthinking this.

I thought of the girl instead, of the delicious fear in her eyes, of the way she trembled, how she jumped when she was startled…

Hmmm. I thought the girl was beautiful, but it still amused me to see her scared…

Maybe I could have the best of both worlds here.

I thought, from the way humans acted, when you had feelings for someone, you wanted to _protect_ them, and _care_ for them, and all that lovey-dovey crap.

Ah, but that is what humans did. They were amusingly weak.

And I wasn't a human.

I grinned, then thought again.

Okay. I could play with her, admiring the fear that shined in her eyes, and admire her beauty, rather than loathe it.

This was going to be fun.

(Time-skip epicness)

The girl came into the house with a boy some time later. I was mad at first - had her stupid brother come home? THAT would mess up my plans-but realized this human sounded different.

They turned on the T.V. I didn't really care what it was talking about, so I ignored it. I wanted to see what this human male looked like, see how the girl acted around him, but this drawer was closed. Grr.

Eventually, the T.V. stopped, and the boy fled the house. The girl and I were alone. Yay!

She pulled out the N64.

Hmmm. Maybe it was time to take this game to a new level.

To mess with her brain, I put her in Insanity Town for a bit- my name for messed up Clock Town- and watched what she made of it.

She looked freaked out, but kept pushing on. Determined. Holding strong.

Isn't that just _precious_?

Soon, she went into a store. I grinned.

'That won't do you any good.' I thought. 'He, he.'

She fell right into the laundry pool.

She looked surprised at seeing the difference in the moon's size. Then when she saw me, she looked like she wanted to get out of the water. It didn't matter. She couldn't do anything.

I stared into her eyes for a minute, then, smirking, made her avatar drown. Her eyes were huge as it fell to my feet.

I blacked out the screen, then brought back up the title screen, telling her how I died.

She hurriedly switched off the game, looking confused and shocked.

Almost as becoming on her as fear.

Catz:Chapter 10! Squeeee!

Yeah, I know this chapter is kinda boring, chapter nine from BEN's Pov. But, it is nessecary. He accepted his feelings, which is crucial to the story.

Okay, guys, I think I know where I'm gonna take this next chapter. Just hang on, cause I don't know when I can update.

Please review! 3


	11. Jake and a conversation

Catz: This is gonna be fun.

_Courtney's POV_

The BEN file was back. But why in the world did the other one say Drowned?

Was it referring to how Link just died?

Was it referring to how we found the cartridge, in a river?

Or was the game actually trying to tell me how its previous owner died?

I figured the last option was the most likely.

I considered this. I heard a story about a clock that stopped ticking the day the man who owned it died, and even though there didn't seem to be anything wrong with its inner workings, it never ran again.

Maybe this was similar. Maybe BEN was very attached to his game, and the game was mad at me for deleting his file, and that's why it was pulling all this crap, and it just wanted me to at least know how he died.

With a new theory settling all the turmoil in my head, I pulled out the capture card and plugged it into the computer, uploading the footage to YouTube. I put my theory in the description, also describing the freaky stuff the game had done before, and asking if anyone had any ideas, to please e-mail me, including my e-mail address. I clicked off the internet, then switched off the computer.

I didn't have anything to do, so I went over to Jake's for a little while.

I found him watching T.V.

"Hey, looks like the powers back on, huh?" I asked.

"Yeah." He said.

"Can I watch too?" I asked.

"Sure." He said.

I sat down, watching the show that was on. It was pretty good, and I hadn't noticed that Jake had moved right next to me until I felt his arm over my shoulders, pulling me against him.

Now, I liked Jake, but I hardly knew him, and wasn't comfortable with that. I pulled away.

Yeah, I know he lay next to me, but were else was he supposed to lie? The floor? And that was hardly as - direct - as this.

He turned and looked at me, and I looked at him.

He dropped his arm, as well as his gaze, turning back to the T.V. I did too.

Eventually, I got hungry.

"I'm goin' home. See ya later." I said.

"Later." Jake said, his voice expressionless. He didn't look up from the T.V. In fact, he hadn't looked at me since I pulled away from him.

Jeez. Was he mad about that? I hoped not. Maybe I didn't want to snuggle, but I still liked him, in the sense that I had a crush on him and as a friend.

I went home and made myself a little pizza, one for only one person. PIZZA! Then I ate it.

After I cleaned up the kitchen, I went to sleep for a little while. I was tired out.

I woke up at like ten at night.

I realized there was music playing.

And I freaked out.

_It was that music from the game. The backwards song of healing._

And it was coming from my computer, _which was off._

I screamed, pulling myself off the couch in one ungraceful movement, staring at the computer, before slowly walking toward it.

The screen came on, and I jumped.

It was on some website called Cleverbot.

I approached the computer, sitting down. Text popped up from Cleverbot.

Cleverbot: "Hello."

Me: "Who are you?"

Cleverbot: "Don't you know?"

Me: "No, how would I?"

Cleverbot: "My, you are slow. I suspected it when you posted that ridiculous theory on YouTube, and this confirms it."

Me: "Who the hell are you? I thought this was just a bot! Are you a hacker?"

Cleverbot: "I told you, you should already know who I am."

Me: "Get the hell off my computer. I mean it."

Cleverbot: "Should I wait until you play the game then?"

Me: "What?"

Cleverbot: "You know what I mean."

Me: "So, you're not just a hacker, but also a stalker. I'm calling the cops."

Cleverbot: "You don't want to do that."

Me: "Oh yeah? Why not?"

Cleverbot: "You have no evidence. Do you want to end up on some sort of government watch list?"

Me: "Oh please. No evidence? That last comment was pretty good proof."

Cleverbot: "Clever girl. Not clever enough, though."

The screen was suddenly cleared of all the comments.

Me: "…"

Cleverbot: "You better think twice before telling ME what you plan to do. Especially if it's against me."

Me: "WHAT ARE YOU?"

Cleverbot: "Turn around, sweetie."

I turned around and saw the T.V.

"What the he-"I muttered as I turned back to the screen, before screaming.

The Elegy Statue was on the screen.

The screen went back to Cleverbot.

Me: "Did you do that?"

Cleverbot: "Yes."

Me: "What the HELL man? WHY?"

Cleverbot: "To answer your question."

Me: "Oh? And which question was that?"

Cleverbot: "The one asking what I was."

Me: "… What?"

Cleverbot: "You really are slow. I even provided visual aid."

Me: "You can't really want me to believe that YOU'RE the Elegy Statue. You're just some stupid hacker/stalker who's bored and thinks it'd be fun to mess with my mind."

Cleverbot: "Now, how would any stalker go about being able to see in the windows? You're on the second floor, sweetheart. And I'm pretty sure a ladder would not be a good idea to set up, judging on how close those electrical wires are to the window."

It was true. I was on the second floor, and anyone who put up a ladder would be in serious danger of getting tangled up in those wires and, as a result, being electrocuted.

Me: "…You're lying."

Cleverbot: "Took you longer to type that."

Me: "No. No. Get off my computer. Now."

Cleverbot: "If you didn't want me on here, you shouldn't have connected me to it."

Me: "How did I connect you to my computer?"

Cleverbot: "Cables and cords."

Me: "What?"

Cleverbot: "I just told you."

Me: "Really? If you're the Elegy Statue, prove it."

Cleverbot: "Hmmm. How about this: 'Should we delete that one?' 'Not yet. Let's let BEN play a little longer.'"

My heart stopped. That's what Danny had said when the game started glitching when we were playing together. That was during the daytime, was NO WAY that some stalker would put up a ladder during the daytime. Sure, the area we lived in was pretty secluded, but there still were other people around that could at least see someone on a ladder, looking into our-second story window. At least, during the daytime. Besides, I don't know who would try that with DANNY with me. I mean, spying on a teenage girl all alone seemed like something a creep WOULD do, but I would think an adult in the house would discourage something like that.

Besides all that, I had seen that window in the T.V.'s reflection whenever the screen went to black to load, and there was NO ONE THERE.

Me: "…Oh."

Cleverbot: "Ah, so you can see now who I am?"

Me: "…Yes."

Cleverbot: "Why does it take you so long to type these things? Are you shocked?"

Me: "Why are you messing with me?"

Cleverbot: "Ah, ah, careful now. I asked you a question. Answer."

Me: "No."

Cleverbot: "NOW."

Me: "Or else what?"

Skull Kid's laugh blasted out of my speakers, followed by a high-pitched squeal. I covered my ears. The noise ended after about twenty seconds.

Cleverbot: "Do you want to answer yet, sweetie? Or would you rather I bust your eardrums?"

Me: "Yes. Yes I am very shocked, so very shocked that I think I may just fall over. Indeed, how shocking you are deserves the highest of awards."

Cleverbot: "I could do without the sarcasm, but you answered my question. Good girl."

Me: "Why are you messing with me?"

Cleverbot: "What is it that really scares you?"

Me: "Answer my question."

Cleverbot: "Answer mine first."

Me: "I already answered one."

Cleverbot: "Too bad. Answer again."

Me: "Who is BEN, Cleverbot?"

Cleverbot : "You're avoiding the question again. Do you want me to have to cause you permanent hearing damage?"

Me: "No, but I also don't want to answer that question. Ask a different, less creepy one and answer my question first. I already answered a question, so it's your turn. Be fair."

Cleverbot: "Life isn't fair."

Me: "True, but it can't always be unfair in your favor."

Cleverbot: "I beg to differ, but that was a clever response, so I believe I will answer your question. But I get to ask my new one first."

Me: "NO! I won't fall for that! ANSWER! WHO IS BEN?"

Cleverbot: "Me."

Me: "…You're BEN?"

Cleverbot: "It took you so long to type that I thought you had fallen asleep. And as for that last comment, see above comments. Geez, sometimes you act clever, but you're really very slow."

Me: "Why are you messing with me?"

Cleverbot: "Ah, ah. Bad girl. It's my turn to ask a question."

Me: "Okay, then ask."

Cleverbot: "What is your name?"

I considered that. Hmm. No.

Me: "No."

Cleverbot: "Then I won't answer your question."

Me: "…"

Cleverbot: "I can wait, sweetheart. I can wait."

I wanted to know why the game was messing with me, so I did the logical thing.

Me: "Okay. My name is Ashley."

Cleverbot: "Stupid girl. I can see you. I can tell that you're lying just from the way you look."

Me: "How the hell can you see me?"

Cleverbot: "Magic. Stop avoiding my questions, and if you lie again, you'll be sorry."

Me: "Why will I be sorry?"

Cleverbot: "Stop avoiding the questions, 'Ashley'. Tell me your name."

I growled, then reluctantly typed in:

Me: "My name is Courtney."

Cleverbot: "You're telling the truth. Good girl. Smart girl, too. Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Courtney."

Me: "Why, thank you. Now answer my question. Why are you messing with me?"

Cleverbot: "Hmm."

Me: "Answer."

Cleverbot: "No, I don't think I will."

Me: "I won't play this game, BEN. Answer. NOW."

Cleverbot: "You're being very bossy."

Me: "Stop avoiding my question."

Cleverbot: "Now, why would I do that?"

Me: "BEN!"

Cleverbot: "Why, what is it, Courtney?"

I was really mad now. I had given this entity my name, and now I wanted my question answered.

Suddenly, I had an idea.

Me: "You know what, BEN? I don't care. You suck. Bye."

I closed the tab. I don't know if it was re-opened or not, because I turned and went over to the entertainment center's drawer. I took out the majora cartridge.

There's a little lake a ways behind our house. It's pretty deep, so I figured probably no one would ever find the cartridge. Besides, even if they did, I figured the cartridge would corrode some with time, even with some sort of ghost inside it. So, even if there were still N64's to play it on, it might be unplayable.

I don't really know why I decided on the lake, rather than the trash or something. I guess I felt it was fitting, that we got the cartridge from water, and I was returning it to water.

I walked to the edge of the lake and threw the cartridge as hard as I could. It landed right in the middle of the lake and sank.

I waited there, watching the ripples in the black water move outward and fade, until I figured it was at the bottom of the lake. Then I turned around and started home.

I hadn't gone twenty steps when I felt an arm slip around my waist, pulling me backwards against someone. Another hand went over my mouth, just before I could scream.

Oh shit.

I fought against whoever this was, screaming muffledly through a hand. My efforts were rewarded with a ghostly chuckle behind me.

I looked down to aim a kick at my attacker's leg. And froze.

In the hand of the arm around my waist was a grey N64 cartridge.

I suddenly noticed that the sleeves of this person were green.

Now I was terrified on an entirely new level.

I felt cold breath on the back of my neck as this person leaned forward.

Still fighting to get free, I tried to twist around, to see, to be sure, but I couldn't. They had a tight grasp on me.

But, as they leaned their head forward, I could see out of the corner of my eyes a little bit of blond hair.

The person's head stopped moving. A voice whispered, right in my ear;

"I'm glad you did that."

Catz: Wow, that WAS fun! And long…

It took a long time to write, but you guys were due for an extra long chapter! Hope you enjoyed!

Guys , did this one seem a little rushed? Or just packed with action? Give me some insight here.

Either way, a LOT just happened. Now things may be a bit more interesting.

Confused? You should be. Don't worry, I'll explain it all soon enough.

I'm getting a LOT of views on this story. Almost 500! Thanks to everyone reading this story!

Please review, my lovely readers!


	12. Jake and an annoying bot

_Courtney's POV_

Oh no.

I fought with everything I had. The only thing that happened was BEN held tighter and chuckled.

I suddenly twisted my head, hard, from one side to the other and up (Authors note: I have no idea whether this would actually work or not.). I managed to rip my mouth away from BEN's hand.

I screamed. I SCREAMED. LOUD.

BEN swore and reached for my mouth again. He covered it, this time using the inside of his elbow to hold my entire head in place.

"You shouldn't have done that." He growled.

He started to pull me farther into the shadows, closer to the lake. He actually lifted me off the ground and carried me. I fought hard, but it wasn't any good, epically since I couldn't touch the ground. My kicks at his legs helped, slowed him down, but didn't stop him. He chuckled, again.

"Courtney?"

Thank God.

The footsteps were quiet on the grass, but quick. Running.

"Courtney?" Unsure, now. "Are you out here?"

The footsteps slowed.

Oh, no. I'm out here! Don't turn back!

I screamed as loud as I could through BEN's hand.

"COURTNEY!" Loud now. "WHERE ARE YOU?"

I screamed again.

The footsteps turned toward us.

BEN chuckled, and I was on the ground.

He was gone. Just like that.

"Courtney? Are you okay?" He asked, running over to me.

"Y-yeah." I said. I realized I was shaking.

"What happened?" He demanded.

"There was some guy…" I managed. "He-he grabbed me…"

"Geez. What a bastard." Jake muttered.

I couldn't help but agree.

"You're shaking. C'mon." Jake said, gently putting his hand on my back, guiding me toward his house.

Once inside, we sat down on the couch. Jake didn't seem angry with me, and I hoped he was truly cool with this afternoon, not just putting it off because of what just happened.

"Are you sure you're okay? He didn't hurt you?" Jake asked, holding my shoulders, staring into my eyes anxiously.

"Y-yeah. You showed up at just the right time, Jake." I said, smiling shakily.

He breathed out, letting his hands drop, before pulling me into a hug.

"Good. No one hurts my girl."

What.

I let it drop. It seemed a bit possessive, but he was probably just being overly protective. Which made sense after what just happened.

As my shakes faded, so did my energy. I had been on an adrenaline high, and now I was crashing.

Exhausted, I rested my head on Jake's shoulder. I realized he hadn't called the cops or anything. I was glad, since if they questioned me, I would have to make up some sort of lie – which probably wouldn't work – or be classified as crazy. I wondered why Jake hadn't called the cops, and then realized he was probably the type of kid who didn't think of the police as friends. Evan had said once that Jake almost got arrested for setting off some sort of illegal fireworks on a private beach, but he just ended up getting fined.

Jake put his arm around me, pulling me into a hug.

"Jake?" I mumbled.

"Yeah?"

"I'm really tired. Can I just stay here tonight?"

"Sure."

"Jake?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you hear me?"

"I had my window open upstairs. I heard someone scream, and since there aren't any other teenage girls around, and it was a high scream, I figured it must be you."

"Okay." I mumbled. I was drifting off.

That was the first night I dreamed of BEN.

It wasn't a nightmare. He was just there. He wasn't the Elegy Statue, but instead looked like Link, just with some sort of liquid, like tears, but red, coming out of his eyes. He just looked at me, calm, and told me, "Play."

When I woke up, it was morning.

Wow.

That was quick.

I just had that one dream? How does that even work?

Whatever.

At first I was confused…where the heck was I? Then I remembered last night, and how I stayed with Jake.

My head was still against Jake's shoulder, and I felt a pressure on the side of my head facing upward. I looked in the reflection of the off T.V., and saw that Jake had fallen asleep and was using my head as a pillow.

I didn't want to wake him up, but my neck really hurt, so I tried to pull my head away while positioning his head on the headrest of the couch.

"Huh?"

So much for that idea.

"Sorry, Jake. I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's okay. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks for letting me spend the night here. And thank you so much for helping me."

"No problem."

"I should probably go home, eat, shower."

"Okay." Jake said.

I headed home. I did eat and shower. Then I sat down at the computer to see if I had any e-mails. I needed some help here.

Cleverbot came up first. I tried to x out of it, but it wouldn't let me. Control-alt-delete didn't work, and neither did pushing the power on the computer. I briefly considered unplugging my computer, but not only would that be bad for the computer, but judging by what happened when I tried that with the T.V., that probably wouldn't work. Besides, as soon as I tried to use the computer again, the same thing would happen.

Cleverbot started the conversation.

Cleverbot: "Well now, are you done trying to turn off the computer?"

Me: "What do you want, BEN?"

Cleverbot: "I already told you."

Me: "No you didn't, you asked me a question."

Cleverbot: "Are you stupid? Think, Courtney."

I thought. He hadn't told me anything last night, while trying to kidnap me, or now-

Oh. My dream.

Me: "Do you mean my dream?"

Cleverbot: "Smart girl."

Me: "Hate to break it to you, but I can't play your stupid game. You had it, last time I checked."

He had it in his hand last night, I remember.

Cleverbot: "Then you aren't a very good checker."

Me: "What the hell are you talking about?"

Cleverbot: "Right pocket, Courtney."

I reached into my shorts pocket.

My hand closed around something plastic.

I pulled out the majora cartridge.

Me: "How."

Cleverbot: "Not important. But, if you must know, magic."

Me: "No, for real. Tell me, BEN."

Cleverbot: "I slipped it in your pocket last night. You were distracted enough kicking me."

That made sense, I guess. My pockets were big enough that I wouldn't have felt it. And kicking him – he must mean when I was lifted off the ground. Yes, that was rather distracting.

Me: "Oh. You mean when you trying to kidnap me?"

Cleverbot: "If that's how you want to put it, yes."

Me: "What do you mean, 'if that's how you want to put it'? That's what happened!"

Cleverbot: "Play."

Me: "Why should I?"

Cleverbot: "I don't know. You tell me."

Me: "What does that mean?"

Cleverbot: "What do you think is a good incentive for you to play?"

I thought. What was something I wanted that BEN would allow?

Well, he wouldn't stop messing with me, I was sure. He probably wouldn't get off my computer…

I could ask.

Me: "Will you get off my computer?"

Cleverbot: "I would say, 'Sorry, but no', but honestly, I'm not sorry at all. So simply no."

I ignored how annoying he was and tried a different angle.

Me: "Will you at least leave me alone while I'm trying to do stuff on my computer?"

Cleverbot: "Hmmm."

Me: "Is that a no?"

Cleverbot: "For as long as you play, I will just observe, and let you do what you want. So, play for an hour, and I'll let you do what you please for an hour."

I considered that. Now that I thought about it, I realized there was no way I could play Majora's Mask. I hated it too much right now.

Me: "Why do you want me to play the game so bad?"

Cleverbot: "I enjoy seeing how you react."

Me: "You mean, you like scaring me?"

Cleverbot: "Yes. Your reactions are simply precious."

Me: "Why do find them precious?"

Cleverbot: "Fear is simply very becoming on you."

Grr. So, basically his bargain is I play a game so he can scare me, and then use my computer so he can watch every move I make.

That seems like a pretty lousy deal.

Me: "I've considered your offer, and I've decided."

Cleverbot: "Well, inform me."

Me: "Screw you. No way am I playing that game."

I got up, walking away from the computer.

But not before I saw BEN's response.

Cleverbot: "You shouldn't have done that."

Catz: Well, that took forever to get out. Sorry, I was camping.

Well, enjoy, and I'll try to get Chapter thirteen out. Soon enough, Skittles.

Review, my lovely readers! ;)


	13. Remembering and analysis

BEN's POV

"Screw you. No way am I playing that game."

I growled. Before she could completely get up from the chair, I typed in "You shouldn't have done that."

This girl did a lot of things she shouldn't. Disobeying me was one. I had already decided she was my toy; I could do what I wanted with her. And I wanted to play this game.

Stupid human. Oh well. She wouldn't be so strong-willed in a little while.

She did do some things right, I suppose. I smiled, remembering.

For one thing, that capture card. I didn't even know she had that.

The moment she uploaded that footage, I was back on the internet, a new connection formed.

Cleverbot had always been a favorite of mine for communications. I thought of how shocked she had been when she realized she was talking to the Elegy Statue. Lovely reactions she had.

Then her reaction when I told her I was BEN. So shocked. Like Jadusable, she hadn't managed to make that connection. What foolish creatures humans are.

I managed to learn her name, too. Courtney. What a pretty name.

She was troublesome. She tried to tell me she was Ashley. I could tell she was lying. Stupid girl. Lying to me will only make trouble for her.

She had been bad once. Wouldn't answer. I nearly blew out her speakers. She didn't like that at all. I used that as an incentive for her to answer afterwards. Or you could call it a threat. Usually, I would have rather waited and psychologically messed with her to get answers, but that takes time, and for some reason, I was too curious about her to wait for answers.

She was frightened, though, when she turned around in the chair and saw the Elegy Statue. Then she was angry. How lovely.

She also got angry when I wouldn't answer her. "You know what, BEN? I don't care. You suck. Bye."

Honestly, what was she thinking?

The cold air, the silence of the night…I was almost nervous. Where was she taking me? I couldn't see, since it was just the cartridge. I could only see through a screen, like a T.V. or computer screen.

Then the dizzying space. It would have been less disorienting, I'm sure, if I could have seen. But instead, I was just conscious of being hurled…somewhere. Air rushing past me, flipping over and over.

But…

The moment I sank completely into the dark waters, like I had so long ago, I felt my life energy rush back, as it had been stolen before. The water healed now, rather than hurt.

Even though I hadn't drowned here, all water wasn't so different. I regained enough of my life energy from these waters to regain my previous form.

Unfortunately, since this wasn't the lake I drowned in, I hadn't regained my full previous form. This meant that I couldn't move too far from the water. I could feel my energy wane the farther I moved from the lake. I knew if I tried to go too far from the lake, I would collapse. And that wouldn't be very intimidating, now, would it be?

Before she could get too far from the lake, I came up behind her. I held my vessel in one hand. She wasn't getting off so easy.

I held her by the waist, holding one hand over her mouth so she couldn't scream.

The way she fought, like she thought she could escape. Precious.

"I'm glad you did that." I whispered in her ear.

The way she tensed, then fought harder. Priceless human reactions.

Then she somehow managed to free her mouth and scream. I swore, angry now. I covered her mouth again.

"You shouldn't have done that." I hissed.

I wasn't going to hurt her. I just wanted to scare her. So, I picked her up and began pulling her back into the shadows.

The little brat kept kicking me. Ow.

However, I figured this was the perfect opportunity. She was so distracted with her kicking that she wouldn't notice the cartridge now.

Carefully, I slipped it into her oversized pocket. She kept kicking me.

Perfect!

"Courtney?"

Damnit.

She screamed, alerting the boy to our position. He ran toward us.

Now, I had no desire to be seen by this boy. This was a game between Me and Courtney. So, I melted into the shadows. I still resided in the cartridge the entire time I had been in my previous form, but could now switch to my previous form anytime.

But, it wasn't truly my previous form, was it? I inwardly sighed.

No. It was just the form of that video game avatar. Link, I believe.

Too truly be myself again, I would have too…

No. I wouldn't think about that. It would never happen.

Now, where had the girl gone?

I couldn't hear her in the house. She must have left.

Where was she?

I guess I couldn't do anything but wait for her return.

Catz: Fitting enough that chapter thirteen should be BEN's pov. ;)

Okay, Skittles! It's finally up!

Review, please!


	14. Festivities and fireworks

_Courtney's POV_

I didn't want to stay in the house right now. I left, standing on the back porch, wondering what I should do. I wasn't going to go back to Jake's, lest I make a pest of myself.

I decided on a bike ride. Maybe I could go to the park, where there was a lack of entities.

I started up town, only to skid to a stop right before Main Street. It was all blocked off. People stood on either side of the street. A banner hung over the street, strung between two buildings, announcing a week-long festival in celebration of our town's anniversary.

I had sort of lost track of time, so I wasn't too surprised I had forgotten about this. Every year, our town had a week-long festival to celebrate our town's birthday. Me and Danny always came to it. I felt a pang, missing him.

Right now, the parade was about to start. I leaned my bike against a tree and joined the people gathered on the sides of the street. There weren't any little kids around me, so I didn't feel guilty about grabbing the candy off the road.

The parade finally ended, and I decided to still go to the park. It was always kind of crazy and crowded, since they filled it with bouncy-houses and stuff, but I was fine was crowded, and crazy was fine too.

I hung out there for about an hour, buying a cotton-candy and then going on the bike trail. It was kind of tricky to steer my bike with only one hand (the other was holding my candy in cotton form), then buying more cotton candy, and going on the swings.

I decided to go home for a little while. I had been on a sugar high, and now I was crashing. I needed a nap, then some real food. I bought a cotton candy for the ride home.

I walked in, falling onto the couch and falling asleep.

And that was the second time I dreamed of BEN.

This time, he wasn't so – well, peaceful – as before, although he was just as calm. He started walking toward me, his expression angry, but completely calm at the same time. I walked backwards, away from him. We were just in this huge white space. He walked faster, toward me, and I turned and ran. Suddenly, the elegy statue did that warping thing right in front of me. I turned, to run another way, and ran right into BEN.

He grabbed both my wrists, looked right at me, and grinned, narrowing his eyes. It was terrifying.

He leaned closer in. Now, I had tried not to show that I was scared, since that was apparently what he wanted. But when he leaned right into my face, I couldn't help but pull back a little. That made him smile wider, showing his teeth, half grin, half arrogant smirk. Actually, more than half arrogant smirk.

He whispered, quiet but forceful, "PLAY."

And I was awake.

I looked over at the clock.

I had been out for two hours.

I got up, rubbing my eyes. These dreams were defiantly not normal. That dream had been about twenty minutes, and I know that you don't dream the entire time you're asleep, but these dreams were like I was awake, and I should have dreamed more than twenty minutes for a two-hour sleep, I think. These were also very clear and defined the entire time. My dreams usually started and ended fuzzy.

Plus, these had a supernatural entity who was stalking me in them.

Defiantly not normal.

I was hungry, but it was soon clear that there was no way I could eat here. My computer started making weird, LOUD noises.

BEN, obviously.

I ignored him as I hurriedly grabbed some money, leaving to get dinner.

It was only about five, still a few hours till dark. I realized that Jake probably didn't even know this festival was going on, being new to this town.

Well, I would have to inform him!

I went to his house.

"Sup". He addressed me.

"Hey, Jake! There's a festival up town. You wanna go?"

"Sure!"

Oh yeah. I had to eat.

"Hey, do you wanna go up to a restaurant and get something to eat?" I asked.

"Sure." He said.

We headed uptown, and stopped at a restaurant.

I could tell Jake was staring at me, but every time I looked up, he looked away. I wondered if he thought this was like a date. I hadn't intended it that way, but he might think I had.

We finished, splitting the bill and going up to main street, which was closed off and filled with stands and stuff. At one end of the street, they had a stage half-set up.

"Do you know if there's a band playing tonight?" I asked some random guy.

"No. Tomorrow, I think." Replied said random guy.

"Okay." I said.

That made sense, I guess. They usually set off fireworks on the first night.

We walked around for a while longer, veering off from the main festival and walking along side streets. We kept this up until it started to get dark.

"We should probably head to the park, Jake. There's fireworks! They start about ten minutes after dark."

"Okay." He agreed.

We headed up, managing to get a good spot on the top of the hill. We watched as the sun set, talking as we waited for the fireworks to start.

The high-pitched squeal that announced a firework rising ended our conversation.

BOOM!

We sat together, watching. After about twenty minutes of pure swag, the even swaggier grand finale started.

I didn't really get to enjoy it.

Jake put his arm around my shoulder. Like before, I moved away, not comfortable with that.

Unlike before, Jake moved with me, putting his arm around me again.

I tried to move, but now he held me in place with his other arm, almost like an embrace.

I squirmed, hating being restricted, and actually kind of scared.

"Let me go, Jake!"

"Hold on, Courtney…"

"I said LET GO!"

I struggled out of his grasp, standing and starting down the hill, walking fast, the fireworks still exploding above me.

"Courtney, wait!" Jake shouted above the fireworks, starting after me.

I ignored him for a minute, hurrying along. I was really mad.

He grabbed both my wrists, making me stop and look at him. I was hit with a strong wave of déjà vu.

"I'm sorry, Courtney! Please, don't get all mad! I'm sorry. It's just, I really like you!"

I stood, shocked by the déjà vu and that Jake had just told me he liked me. I mean, I guess I already knew that, since he had put his arm around me - or tried to - before, and had again just now. But it still shocked me to hear him actually say it.

"Forgive me?" He asked, voice quiet.

"Okay." I replied, still shocked.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah."

"You wanna go home?"

"Yes."

We left, fireworks not finished. We started to part ways to go to our respective houses. But Jake grabbed my arm, halting me.

"Wait." He said.

"What is it?"

"I just wanted to say sorry again. And…do you still wanna hang out tomorrow?"

I thought. I wasn't really mad at him anymore, and he did say sorry.

"Yeah."

"Okay. Goodnight, Courtney."

"Goodnight."

I went inside, and collapsed, exhausted.

And wished I hadn't.

Catz: Wow, I haven't updated in forever! I'm sorry, Skittles!

Okay, so was that good? Bad? Let me know!

Hope you enjoyed! ;)


	15. Nightmares and Conversations

_Courtney's POV_

It was terrifying.

The way my feet walked by themselves…no, the way they were forced to walk. I could feel a foreign power pulling at them, forcing them to move. I had no power over them, I couldn't move at all. I couldn't even scream; I was bound and gagged, in a sense.

I don't know where I was. It was a big field with a tree in the middle, a tree I was walking toward.

The tree he stood under.

He smiled, his face friendly and relaxed. It wasn't hard to figure out that he was the one forcing me to move toward him.

I walked into the circle of darkness caused by the tree. I stopped right in front of him.

"Hello, Courtney. I'm glad to see you. But I must ask you something."

His face turned from smile to a frown, putting on a look of mock hurt. He raised a hand to my shoulder.

"Why won't you play? I've been very patient." His hand tightened on my shoulder, his anger showing. "Tell me."

I tried to open my mouth, and found that I could.

"Because I don't like playing the game. You only use it to scare me." I replied, narrowing my eyes at him.

He smiled, his smile no longer friendly. He put a finger to my lips, and my voice was taken once more.

"Ah, Courtney," He said, lifting a hand to my cheek and trailing his fingers down it, as I flinched inwardly, "don't you understand yet? This isn't about you. This is my game. You're my toy. I can do what I want with you and your life. You're mine."

I glared with him as much defiance as I could, angry at his words. I wasn't scared at all now, just mad. The world didn't revolve around him, no matter how powerful he might think he was.

He chuckled. "You've got quite the fighting spirit. Don't I frighten you at all?"

I was able to speak again. I smirked and replied. "Well, I don't know. Fear is an abstract concept, after all. It's hard to tell."

He chuckled, but the sound was lighter now, closer to a real laugh.

"You're quick with your mind. Surprising that you can't realize to stop trying to fight me yet."

I could still speak, so I replied. "Why do you want me to play the game so badly?"

He sighed, bringing a hand to his face, as if tired of explaining something for the hundredth time. "I already told you." He lowered his hand to smile maliciously. "Your fear is lovely. There's beauty in your suffering."

I frowned. "Why?"

He frowned too, confused. "What?"

"Why do you find beauty in pain?"

He looked shocked for a moment, then confused.

"I…don't know. I just do."

"But WHY?" There must be a reason."

"There isn't." He growled, angry now.

I tried a new tactic. "What if someone played with you this way?"

He smirked. "But no one will. No one can."

"What if they did?"

"They can't."

"I know, but pretend they could. How would you feel? Suffering like that?"

He was abruptly furious. He shoved me backwards, and I could move, stumbling to catch myself. He didn't rebind me. He turned sideways, not looking at me, his hand to his face, eyes closed, head lowered.

"You speak far too much, girl. Learn to hold your tongue." He half-opened his eyes, raising his head slightly and turning it a little toward me to look at me sideways. "And to answer your question, how do you know I haven't?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"You want to find out?" He asked, approaching me.

"Yes."

He stopped right in front of me, crossing his arms, his frown turning to a smirk.

"Then PLAY."

And I was awake.

Catz: I know, this one is insanely short. I'll make the next one longer, and I'll try to get it out fast.

Another cliffee...I'm so mean...*Diabolical laugh*


	16. Playing with fire

_Courtney's POV_

I looked over at the clock.

It was ten a.m.

Wow. I was up about two hours earlier than usual and wasn't tired. Was it because of BEN?

Whatever. I made myself something to eat and ate it. Then I got dressed, all that stuff. It only took me an hour.

Hmm.

Jake probably wasn't up yet…

And I wanted to know what BEN meant…

Much as I disliked the game…maybe I could play for an hour.

I set up the N64, starting it up.

The save files came up.

BEN and YOURTURN.

I clicked YOURTURN.

And ended up in an empty Termina field again.

Really?

But, no, it wasn't empty…

There was something way in the distance. I started toward it.

When I got closer, I realized it was the Happy Mask Salesman.

No.

I turned around, trying to head back from where I came.

And fell over the edge.

That startled me. It was like a glitch I had seen online, the Back in Time glitch, that worked on Twilight Princess and Wind Waker. You could explore the world while using the glitch, but after a little while the world just sort of ended, like a cliff.

That's what this was like.

I respawned right in front of the Happy Mask Salesman.

It wasn't just him, either. It was also Skull Kid and BEN.

I observed our surroundings. We were just on a little island-thing. After about ten steps in any direction, it dropped off in one of those cliff-things.

So I couldn't run at all. Lovely.

Really, BEN?

Whatever. If I couldn't run, could I talk to them?

I approached them. Skull Kid was doing some idle animation on loop, BEN was just standing there, and the Happy Mask Salesman was just doing that terrible animation with his hands, wearing that stupid grin.

I tried to talk to each one. Each one had no effect.

I just stood there, staring at them.

And then I screamed as Link burst into flames, screaming, and fell to the ground.

The game restarted, and the save files came up.

They were BEN and Link.  
Furious, and not yet recovered from my two-second-ago heart attack, I sat there for a second before selecting Link.

I ended up in some weird place where I was just walking on air, sometimes falling downward, sometimes falling upward, sometimes unable to move, just doing nothing.  
This went on for about twenty minutes.

Finally, I got mad. I went over to the computer. Cleverbot came up.

Cleverbot: "Play."

Me: "I've been playing! Tell me what you meant last night!"

Cleverbot: "Play more."

Me: "How much more?"

Cleverbot: "A while."

Me: "Why? I can't do anything! What's the point!?"

Cleverbot: "Okay then, I'll take you to a different area."

I looked back on the screen, and Link was in the fire temple. His body was all messed up, though. Twisted to the side.

Me: "BEN! What the hell is wrong with Link?"

Cleverbot: "I dunno, why don't you ask him?"

Me: "Oh, be quiet. How much longer do I have to play?"

Cleverbot: "A while."

Me: "Will you keep your promise to tell me? A man's word is his honor."

Cleverbot: "I never said I was very honorable, but I will keep my promise to you."

Me: "…Okay then."

I picked up the controller, moving Link around. He freaked me out, with his crippled position. I started moving farther into the temple. I could still do stuff; Link could still jump and all, and I could still kill enemies somehow. I might of actually had fun, if it wasn't for Link's crippled position freaking me out.

Then stuff got worse.

BEN started following me around. I was sick of him, so I turned around and slashed at him.

The screen quickly cut to the Happy Mask Salesman smiling, and I jumped.

Then it went back to Link again. I was in an abandoned FireTemple, with no BEN, no enemies, nothing. Every time I tried to leave the room, it would just take me back there through the passage I had tried to leave through, like Link had turned around in the tunnel or doorway I was trying to leave through.

I looked at the clock. It was 12:20.

Great. It was past noon. Jake might come to get me if I didn't go meet him first, and I didn't want him knowing about this game.

I went over to the computer, typing into Cleverbot.

Me: "BEN, haven't I played long enough? Will you tell me what you meant now?"

Cleverbot: "I already told you, Courtney. A long time ago."

Me: "What?"

Cleverbot: "Here, I'll remind you."

Me: "How?"

Cleverbot: "Look at the T.V., sweetie."

I looked back at the screen.

The save files were now: BEN and DROWNED.

I remembered seeing those before (Catz: Beginning of Chapter Eleven). I'd thought maybe BEN had drowned, and the game was trying to tell me how its previous owner had passed on.

Now I knew that it wasn't the game talking to me, but BEN.

Me: "You…drowned?"

Cleverbot: "Yes. And it's some of the worst pain you could ever imagine."

So that's what he meant when I, asking how he would feel if someone played with him the way he was with me, said, "How would you feel? Suffering like that?" and he replied, "How do you know I haven't?"

Me: "I'm…so sorry, BEN."

Cleverbot: "…"

Me: "…How did you end up inside the cartridge?"

Cleverbot: "I have no idea."

Me: How old were you?"

Cleverbot: "I was five. I don't like to remember it, because then I remember the pain."

Me: "Is that why you do this?"

Cleverbot: "What?"

Me: "Why you enjoy pain. Because you went through so much, and want others to share it."

Cleverbot: "…I don't know."

Me: "Will you think about it?"

Cleverbot: "Why?"

Me: "Don't you think you deserve to know?"

Cleverbot was inactive for about two minutes. Then the window closed and my computer shut down.

I looked over at the N64, and it was shut down too.

"BEN?" I asked my computer. "BEN?" In a pleading voice now. I wanted to talk to him.

Nothing.

I wondered why he cut off from me like that. Was he mad? Or just confused?

I hoped he wasn't mad at me. That wouldn't be good.

I sighed, then put away the N64. I started out of the house, only to run into Jake on the sidewalk, heading toward my house.

"Hey." I said.

"I was just coming to get you." Jake said.

"Okay. You wanna head up town?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then!"

And we headed toward the festival.

Catz: Awww! Poor BEN!

Well, this one was longer, and it didn't take to long. Yay!

As always, my skittles, review! (Oh, and check out this song. Though if you don't know what WithinHubris is, you may not understand the whole thing. xD watch?v=Dw1nnjAiHNQ)


	17. Carnival discomfort

_Courtney's POV_

We headed up to the middle school. Behind said middle school is this huge field. They'd set up a bunch of rides there. Both me and Jake bought a wristband and started for the rides.

Turns out we both liked fast rides. We ran around at the carnival for a few hours, buying lunch from one of the stands they had set up.

Jake kept looking at me. I think he still liked me, but after that little stunt yesterday, I was liking him less. I still liked him as a friend, but I didn't like like him anymore. He seemed rather possessive, which I wasn't sure I liked.

There was about a half-hour till dark, and suddenly I remembered the band that had been setting up yesterday. I asked someone if they were all set up.

"Yeah. They're gonna start playing when it gets dark."

I thanked that random person and then turned to Jake. "We've probably got time for one more ride if we wanna go see the band."

"Do you wanna go on the ferris wheel?" He asked.

"Sure!"

We got in line, the ferris wheel already lit up for the nighttime. We got on, slowly rising to the top.

Our car stopped at the top to let someone on, the sky already dimming. I looked around at the treetops and the town. It felt great to be able to see everything, like being on top of the world.

Unfortunately, that feeling didn't last.

I felt Jake take hold of my hand. Not comfortable with that, I pulled away.

He looked at me, seeming angry. I looked back at him, confused.

He dropped his gaze, turning his head to look the other way. I could feel a black mood around him. He didn't reach for my hand again.

The rest of the ferris wheel ride wasn't too fun.

I wonder what would have happened if I had confronted him outright about it, but too tell the truth, I was too bewildered by his reaction, and actually, very scared to talk to him about it. I didn't want to make him angry. Well, more angry then he already was.

This mood seemed familiar, and I realized this was like the one when he tried to put his arm around me for the first time. Same feeling of discomfort and foreboding.

I wondered why I hadn't felt that yesterday, then remembered he probably wasn't mad. He was sorry. Even if he had been mad, I had been too shocked by the déjà vu and his confession of liking me that I probably wouldn't have noticed.

Suddenly, the rest of Evan's story about Jake almost getting arrested for setting off those illegal fireworks on a private beach flooded back.

"He came home in the back of a cop car. His eyes were all red, and he was hiccupping, like he'd been crying. The cops fined my dad while Jake sat in the couch in the living room, looking guilty. They left after my dad paid.

The second they pulled out of the driveway, Jake burst out laughing at the top of his lungs. 'Oh, man!' He said. 'What stupid cops! All my buddies scattered, but they caught me. I started crying, saying how sorry I was, and how I would never do it again. I guess they felt sorry for me, so they let me off.' I was shocked! I had really thought he had been crying."

Was he really sorry last night?

Or had he been angry, and I couldn't tell through the haze of shock surrounding me?

I was only too glad to get off the ferris wheel. I felt trapped in the small car, next to an angry Jake.

We went to the band, and Jake's anger seemed to ebb a bit. They played 70's songs, which aren't bad, but they weren't really my style, and after about ten minutes, Jake suggested we leave. That was fine with me. I didn't really feel like staying either, not entirely due to the band.

Jake and I left to go to our own houses, and somehow the parting seemed final.

For once, I gladly went into my entity-infested house.

I went over to my computer to see if it was working.  
Nope.

Drat. I had wanted to ask BEN if he was going to mess with my dreams again tonight. Probably.

With a sigh, I got ready for bed, then went to sleep.

And was met with a familiar, green-clad entity.

Catz: Yeah, this one is kinda short. Sorry about that.

I will be updating shortly, and yes, the next one will be BEN's POV.

*Picks up michrophone* Attention, readers. This is your author speaking. This story will be getting crazy over the next few chapters, so please fasten your seat belts in your brain. That is all.

Did I really just type that...?

Anyways, as always, hope you enjoyed, Skittles!

And as always, review!


	18. Remembering dreams and playing

_BEN'S POV_

"Is that why you do this?"

Confused, I responded, "What?"

"Why you enjoy pain. Because you went through so much, and want others to share it."

What? What…

I…I had no idea.

Truthfully, I responded, "…I don't know."

"Will you think about it?"

"Why?" Why did she want to know what was going on in my head so much?

"Don't you think you deserve to know?"

I couldn't think. She wanted to make sure that_ I_ knew how I felt? Why did she _care_?

Shocked by realizing I didn't know the reasons behind my own feelings, and the almost – caring – attitude of the girl, Courtney, I couldn't think. When I finally regained my bearings, I realized I needed some time to deal with this. I turned off the computer and N64, sealing myself in solitude.

The previous night all came back to me. Her third dream I had entered, and the most frightening nightmare so far.

Well, at first, anyways.

I had forced her to walk toward me, binding voluntary movement and speech.

Once we were under the tree, the nightmare turned instead into a conversation with her. Although not as fun as frightening her, conversing with her was also amusing.

"Why do you want me to play the game so badly?" She had asked.

I had already explained this to her, but I supposed I would just have to again. "Your fear is lovely. There's beauty in your suffering."

She frowned, looking confused. "Why?"

What did she mean by why? "What?" I asked.

"Why do you find beauty in pain?" she asked.

Why did I find beauty in…

…

"I…don't know. I just do."

That question shocked me to no end, really. I had never considered it before, and now that I did, I realized I had no answer to it.

"But WHY?" There must be a reason." She pressed.

I didn't know, and I didn't like her pressuring me. Angry, I growled, "There isn't."

She changed the subject. "What if someone played with you this way?"

I smiled. No human could touch me, and no entity could either. Smirking, I informed her, "But no one will. No one can."

"What if they did?"

No one could. "They can't."

"I know, but pretend they could. How would you feel? Suffering like that?"

Suffering like that.

Sinking…

Gasping…

Breathing in water…

I HAD suffered.

Furious, I shoved her. She stumbled backwards, bonds broken.

"How do you know I haven't?"

"What do you mean?" She had asked, confused.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes."

I stopped in front of her, smirking suddenly.

"Then PLAY."

And play she did.

Although I used my best and favorite trick – making Link burn to death – somehow I didn't enjoy myself as much as before.

"Why do you find beauty in pain?"

I still had no idea. And it was bothering me.

Why did I enjoy this?

I had no idea. That one little sentence of Courtney's stayed in the back of my mind, pulling at me, drawing my attention away from the game. Part of the reason it was less fun than usual. A big part, but still just a part.

Finally, I guess Courtney got sick of playing, because she came over to the computer.

I didn't want to stop playing, even if it wasn't as enjoyable as usual. "Play." I instructed her.

"I've been playing! Tell me what you meant last night!"

Not yet. "Play more."  
"How much more?"

I don't know. "A while."

She did play for a while longer, after I took her to a different area. Still perplexed by the unanswered question, I tried to find an answer by doing one of my favorite things: Following her.

She turned and swung the sword at me.

That pissed me off, so I made the screen cut quickly to the Happy Mask Salesman to scare her. Then I put her in an abandoned fire temple, enjoying myself slightly more, the satisfaction of revenge overriding the uneasiness of an unanswered question.

Finally, she came over to the computer, and I upheld my end of the bargain, telling her how I died.

"I'm…so sorry, BEN."

Why did she CARE? I had been nothing but mean to her! Why did she feel sympathy for me?

What an illogical human.

"…How did you end up inside the cartridge?"

I had considered this time and time again, and still had no answer for it. "I have no idea."

"How old were you?" she asked.

This I knew. "I was five. I don't like to remember it, because then I remember the pain."

And then everything sort of went to hell in my head. When she asked, "Is that why you do this?"

And now that I considered it…

Yes.

That is why I did this.

I hadn't realized it until I really thought about it. But I realized that I still hurt from that pain long ago, and was trying to make others hurt with me.

The girl came home late at night. She tried to talk to me through the computer, but I wouldn't respond. I wanted to talk to her in her dream.

And indeed I did.

Catz: This chapter was really hard to write.

Okay, next chapter is gonna be intense. So this is a fine time for me to get writer's block, isn't it?

Geez. I'm gonna try to write this story after I eat something and play some Ocarina of Time. I'll eat some bacon. Bacon is inspiring.

Okay, till' later, Skittles! And as always, review! ;)


	19. A talk within a dream

_Courtney's POV_

I saw him standing a little ways away from me, watching me. We were in the same place as before, the field with a tree in the middle of it. We weren't under the tree now, though, standing in the light instead.

I walked up to him as he watched me walk up to him.

"Hello, BEN." I said.

He nodded.

"Did you think about what I said?" I asked.

"…Yes." He said.

"Did you find an answer?"

"….Yes."

"What was that answer?"

"…I realized that I still hurt from that pain long ago, and that I'm trying to make others hurt with me."

"What do you think of it?" I asked.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"Do you really want to put others through pain too? You're just duplicating your pain and pushing it onto others." I said.

He smirked. "Yes, it's fun."

That made me mad, but I tried to stay calm. "It might be, BEN, but put yourself in their shoes. Imagine being them, how that would feel."

"No, I don't care about them." He replied.

I took a deep breath to keep calm.

"BEN, do you really want to force pain on others?" I asked him.

"Yes. I've been through pain too, and this is the only way I can ease it, the only way I can feel happy."

I stood, shocked, looking at the entity that had just spilled his guts to me in that one little sentence. I had never heard him say so much about how he felt before. Sure, he had talked about drowning, but only a little, and even then, it was vague. He had just told me exactly how he felt and why he felt that way.

But what he said wasn't true.

"That's not true, BEN." I said. I had tried to keep my voice calm, but it still came out a pitch higher then usual.

"What?" He said, clearly confused.

I took a deep breath.

"Even though you've been through pain, you don't have to ease it by pushing it onto others. Even though that might make you feel better, all you're doing is creating more pain. All that does is keep your wounds open. Instead of doing that, you can heal." I told him.

Then I did the only thing I could think of that would help heal.

I stepped forward suddenly and hugged him.

He tensed up, then quickly pushed me away. He held his head in both hands, staring at the ground as he started shouting.

"NO! I'm powerful enough to do whatever I want! No one can stop me! I'm too strong!"

He raised his head to look at me, starting to walk toward me, his eyes wide and wild. "If I want to play my game with people, I can! If they get hurt, they get hurt! No one can stop me, I'm too powerful!"

I backed away from him at the same rate he advanced toward me. I kept my voice very calm.

"That's true, BEN. But please, remember that there's right and there's wrong. Know the difference, know what's right and know what's wrong." I said quietly.

"Why are you telling me this?!" He asked.

"So that you know."

"Don't you think I already know?!"

"I think you've forgotten."

A shocked look crossed his face. Suddenly, he screamed. He raised his hand to me, and a pit opened beneath my feet. I fell, grasping the edge with one hand, fingers digging into grass and dirt. The sky darkened and turned stormy.

"You forgot that I CONTROL this world!" He screamed at me, his eyes wild and laced with anger, along with well-concealed uncertainty. "That would have been a good thing to remember before you tried to trick me, hmm!?"

The wind picked up, howling, blowing my hair around my face as I looked up at him.

"Please, BEN, remember what I've said! You CAN heal instead of continuing to rip your wounds open again! But to do that, you have to know the difference between right and wrong! And you have to choose the right!" I called up to him, shouting above the shrieking wind.  
Shock dominated his features again, then confusion and fear, as he looked down at me.

Then he screamed once more, angry now, raising his hand to me once more. The grass and earth I was clutching crumbled.

And I fell into swirling black.

And into a nightmare.

Catz: I think BEN just had a mental breakdown...

To be honest, I don't really like the way this one ended up. I would be very grateful for any pointers to how I could have improved upon it.

I hope you enjoyed it! Chapter 20's coming soon enough! Squeeeeee!

As always, please review, my Skittles!


	20. Goldfish and Drama

__Catz: Chapter 20! Squeal!

_Courtney's POV_

I woke, sweating and shaking. I couldn't remember what I had dreamt about after I fell into that pit, but from the way tears streaked down my face, it must have been pretty scary.

I remembered from school that there were two main types of bad dreams – nightmares and night terrors. Nightmares were scary, but a night terror was "A horrible dream that is quite vivid and real". However, unlike nightmares, you didn't remember night terrors.

Well, the part of the dream I did remember was pretty vivid and real. And I'm guessing the rest of it was pretty horrible. That explains my lack of memory from it.

I lay there for a while, just to calm down. Finally, my breaths, which had been sobs, turned shuddery and then stopped. Slowed and ceased too did my shakes.

I was surprised I could think as clearly as I could, but even though I was upset, I couldn't remember what had happened to upset me. I mean, I knew it was a nightmare/night terror, but I didn't remember what happened in it. So, that's probably why I could think clearly. Since I couldn't remember – and therefore couldn't think about – what happened, my mind calmed down rather quick.

Finally, once I was physically calm too, I got ready for the day, quick enough as to get out of the house soon, but not so fast I upset myself again. I didn't want to be here right now, but I also didn't want to pump my system full of adrenaline and get all shaky again. I didn't try to talk to BEN, and he didn't try to contact me. I wasn't really mad at him for that nightmare. He just seemed so confused last night, and I had thrown a lot at him, too. Maybe he had finally cracked under too much pressure.

I remembered his wide, lost eyes. How angry he had been, but scared and grasping for a foothold at the same time.

I'm pretty sure that was a mental breakdown he had been having last night.

I wondered if he was alright, but really didn't want to talk to him. To be honest, I was really scared of him after last night, when he went insane. I wondered if he was still crazy, or if he had recovered.

I tried not to think of it when I left the house. I met up with Jake. He seemed cool enough with me. Evidently, he was no longer angry with me.

We went to the carnival, where they had a new section all set up on another part of the field. We went over to explore it.

It was prizes and stuff. I wasted about ten dollars trying to get a huge teddy bear.

We walked for a while longer, until I saw a booth a little ways away. The sign said, "Goldfish necklaces".

"What the heck is that?" I said to Jake, pointing to the sign. "Goldfish necklaces?"

"I dunno. Wanna check it out?" He asked.

"Yeah."

We headed over to the stand. Turns out the game was pretty standard – there are three types of bowls on the table. You pay a dollar and get three balls. You stand behind the counter and try to throw them into the bowls. If you throw a ball into a pink one, you get a piece of candy. If you throw it into a green one, you get a goldfish.

If you throw it into a blue one, you get a goldfish. But here's the twist. Instead of in a little cheap plastic bag, they put the goldfish in a really cool, sturdy plastic bag with rainbow ribbon on both sides of the bag and a clasp at both ends of the ribbon. So, if you got a ball into a blue bowl, you can actually wear your goldfish around your neck. A goldfish necklace.

I thought that was pretty cool, so I got three balls.

First ball – fail. It landed in a pink bowl.

I looked at the candy bowl on the counter. The entire thing was full of tootsie rolls.

I threw again, and it landed wedged between a blue bowl and green bowl.

I aimed my best for the blue bowl, but before I could throw, Jake grabbed my wrist, holding my arm back.

"You want me to try?" He asked.

I considered that. Jake might have better luck then me at this. What could it hurt to try?

"Okay." I said.

He took the ball and aimed. He threw, way too high.

It bounced off the back wall.

And landed in a blue bowl.

Squealing, I threw my arms around him in a hug. Then, suddenly remembering that that course of action may not be appropriate, considering the past few days, I pulled back, blushing.

Jake seemed surprised, but pleased. That probably wasn't a good thing.

I didn't mean to give him the wrong impression. It just seemed very natural to hug a friend for doing something nice. Me and Danny had always come here together in previous years, and he had won me countless stuffed animals or candy. Candy that actually wasn't tootsie rolls (which were okay, but not really a prize). Whenever he had won me something, I would always hug him. So this was a force of habit, too.

The lady behind the counter handed me a necklace with a little goldfish with white speckles swimming in it. There was just as much water in there for the fish as there would be if I had gotten it in a regular fish bag. When I put it around my neck, though, it didn't even seem that heavy.

I offered Jake the tootsie roll, which he refused. I would have given it to one of the many children on the fairgrounds, but didn't want some mom thinking I was trying to poison their kid. So I ate it instead, wearing my goldfish around my neck, whom I named Peaches.

We walked around for a while longer, looking at stands and going on rides. I tactfully avoided the ferris wheel. Instead, we went on fast rides. I would hold onto Peach's bag carefully so he/she wouldn't be jostled around too much. It's a known fact goldfish are fragile, and I didn't really want Peaches dying.

Jake was a gentlemen, so to speak. He didn't reach for my hand or anything.

Well, for a while.

When it finally got dark, we headed onto Main Street to see the band for that night finish setting up.

The first song they played was Welcome to the Family by Avenged Sevenfold. Needless to say, I instantly liked them, and Jake was grinning too.

We danced, although not together. The band played a wide variety, not only fast songs, but also slower ones, like Love the Way You Lie, the second part by Rihanna. We stayed there a long time, till the end of the night.

Well, almost.

The band announced that they were playing the final song for the night to the small crowd of our town's teens and adolescents, as well as a few adults. They began to play A Thousand Years by Christina Perri.

And Jake took my hand.

I glanced up at him, startled, and he smiled. He pulled me closer, putting his other hand on the small of my back, pulling me into a slow dance.

I don't know why I didn't pull away. I guess I didn't want to make him mad again. Besides, I had danced with Danny, and that defiantly was not a girlfriend/boyfriend relationship. Also, Jake had been a gentleman all day. Maybe he meant this dance as two friends.

So I allowed the dance, and I danced with him, putting my free hand on his shoulder.

We danced in the dark square, other people surrounding us in groups or pairs, as the song continued. Jake was staring into my eyes, his own eyes half-closed, and I began to question my theory for his motive behind this dance.

Instead of looking into his eyes, I looked up at the sky. Some stars were hidden by clouds, some were visible, shining dully, muted by the lights of the town. The moon, however, was not put down so easily. It shone, full and nearly as bright as a moon in the country. The water in Peach's bag swished as I moved in the rhythm of the dance, and I felt way the bag pressed against my neck, the water holding no form.

The song neared the middle, and I looked back down from the stars, at Jake.

His eyes were still half closed, and he still stared at me. I was uncomfortable, but still didn't pull away.

He tilted his head to an angle, his eyes closing more, leaning in toward me.

Now I was pulling away.

Or trying too.

Jake felt me try to pull back, and, opening his eyes, wrapped his arm on my back all the way around, holding me in place.

Trapped, I fought violently, letting out a shriek as I wrenched myself out of his grip. Peach's bag swung on my neck as I broke out of his grasp. I turned and ran out of the square, the song not yet finished.

I looked back once. Would he follow me, as he had at the fireworks?

He stood in the square where I had left him. Even from this distance, I could see that his expression was one of anger.

I had really hoped he wouldn't follow me…

And I had kind of wished he would.

Looking forward once more, I ran faster, toward my house, as hot tears spilled from my eyes and my breathing hitched.

The band was still playing as I ran.

Catz: Geez,did this ever take forever to get out! Sorry about that, Skittles.

Twenty chapters! Yay!

Since we're at the twenty chapters mark, I just want to say this:

Thanks to everyone who is reading this! Every one of you is very inspirational to me.

So, what did you think of this little emotional scene between Courtney and Jake? Let me know!

Hope you enjoyed, Skittles!

Till later!


	21. A Nighttime Walk

Catz: Seat belts buckled? Then let's go!

_Courtney's POV_

I ran into the house and collapsed on the couch, still crying a little. I was glad Jake hadn't followed me, as that would have been very awkward, not to mention how mad I was with him for trapping me like that. Plus, I was quite frankly pretty scared of him right now.

But I was sad that he hadn't followed me, because this pretty much signified that our friendship was over. The way he had glared at me from where he had stood, like he hated me…

I started crying again. The thing was, I had really liked him as a friend. Losing his friendship distraught me. He just didn't like me as a friend, but as something more. And I didn't feel the same about him. I did before, but I didn't anymore.

My sobs slowed and stopped. One part of me said that I shouldn't be upset about Jake. If he couldn't respect that I didn't like him after I had made it very clear, and tried to kiss me after I pushed him back, then this wasn't my fault, but his.

Another part of me said that maybe he thought I was playing hard to get, and he thought I honestly did like him. I mean, when I first met him, I had sent signals that I liked him, because I did back then.

All this was too much for me. I had too much turmoil going on internally from losing a friend and not knowing what I had done wrong, if it was even my fault, to think.

Instead, I lay down to try to sleep, after putting Peaches in a bowl, the necklace empty on the table next to the bowl.

I lay on the couch for literally about an hour, but I couldn't settle my mind to the point where I could sleep. Finally, I gave up on the idea of sleep.

I got up and looked out the window. I was suddenly restless. I wanted to walk in the dark.

I decided to go for a walk, thinking maybe it would help me calm down.

I don't really know why, but I took my goldfish necklace. I filled it with tap water (but left Peaches in her bowl) and put it on. Something just pulled me to it.

I went out in the backyard. I walked absentmindedly, focusing on the grass rather then thoughts. I was trying to tranquilize my mind. I knew I was tired, but I was too upset to sleep. I thought if I could suppress my thoughts, maybe the tiredness would take over, and I could fall asleep as soon as I hit the couch. I couldn't take my mind off my thoughts in the dark because there was nothing else to focus on. The grass moving beneath my feet was at least something. I could have watched T.V., but I didn't want to. I was too upset, then too restless.

I wasn't paying any attention to where I was going, rather focusing on the grass, so I had calmed down sufficiently when I almost fell into the lake.

I stumbled, using my arms to reclaim my balance. Once I was no longer in danger of toppling headfirst into the shallow water, I sat on the seawall, next to a enormous cottonwood tree. I sat dangling my bare feet in the water, kicking the water, sending little ripples into it, watching them disturb the reflection of the full moon.

This was the same lake I had seen BEN at, but honestly, I didn't think about that at all. In fact, I was doing a very good job of filling my head with nothing but the ripples I created in the lake.

That is, until a voice cut through my thoughtless state.

"Hey."

I turned my head to see the person I most wanted to see and least wanted to see at the moment, sending my settled emotions into a hurricane again.

Jake stood not ten feet behind me, thumbs hooked in pockets, face expressionless, looking bored if anything.

"Hey." I responded warily, trying to keep my face smooth, unsuccessfully trying to smother my emotions. I did manage to rein them in, though. I was in enough control that I didn't start sobbing, but didn't have enough control to keep from feeling my heart squeeze at the sight of him.

"I didn't expect to see you here." He continued conversationally.

Suddenly, I was furious with him. How could he stand there and talk so calmly to me, after seeing me run away in tears due to his actions?! He wasn't even sorry!

I stood up, crossing my arms. "What do you want, Jake?" I asked as calmly as I could. I wasn't only trying to let him know I was angry, but also truly wanting to know the answer.

"Haven't I made it obvious already?" He asked.

I honestly blanked on that one. "No."

He sighed and shook his head.

"I tried to make it obvious, I really did. I held your hand, I danced with you, I even tried to kiss you. How can you not tell after all that?"

Now I understood.

"J-Jake, I…I understand, but I just don't like you that way." I said.

"I didn't ask if you liked me that way."

Instantly, I was flooded with adrenaline. His voice was cold, hard, and full of anger and malice.

"I know that you don't like me that way. Oh, I tried to change your mind. Every other girl I've ever come across, I've managed to win over. Not you."

He stepped closer to me.

"But that doesn't matter to me."

He kept walking toward me.

"What do I want?"

He stood where he was, not two feet away from me.

"YOU."

I suddenly realized what he was going to do, and tried to run off to one side, unable to run backward, due to the lake, and unable to run forward, unless I wanted to run straight into Jake.

He lunged forward, grabbing my arm and spinning me around. He pushed me against the tree, holding both my wrists in one hand above my head.

I screamed, knowing no one could hear me, while I kicked at him. It did nothing. He reached for my shirt, starting to pull it over my head.

It was held down by the weight of my necklace. He swore and yanked it off my neck, breaking the clasp. It landed on the ground.

He tried to pull my shirt up once more. I kept screaming, kicking at him. He held my feet down with one foot. He pressed down hard, and both my feet felt like they were being crushed.

And then suddenly they weren't.

I registered Jake's startled face as he was somehow pulled backwards. The foot holding down mine kicked them out from under me as he stumbled backwards, and it threw me off balance. I fell to the side.

And my head smacked into a rock.

My vision went hazy, but I could see that there was someone else here. Another person near Jake. Whoever it was punched Jake, and he fell to the ground.

Then that someone turned to me.

Only one more thought found its way into my head.

_Blond hair…_

That's the person's hair color.

Then my hazy vision flickered out, and everything went black.

Catz: Wow... a lot just happened.

0_o

I hope you guys enjoyed, even the ones who liked Jake. I'll try to get out chapter 22 soon!

As always, Skittles, please review!


	22. BEN at the lake

_BEN's POV_

I sat on a rock in Termina, my head in my hands.

"I'm such an idiot." I groaned.

I couldn't believe I let myself explode like that. I was already confused by realizing that I put others through pain because I had been through pain too, and then Courtney started asking me if I really wanted to force pain on others. Immediately, I choose myself over them, because I was sure I was their superior.

Then, after I told her that forcing pain onto others was the only way I could feel happy, she told me that wasn't true. She said that by pushing pain onto others, all I was doing was keeping my wounds open, and that instead, I could heal.

Then…

She hugged me.

Adrenaline shot through me, as a memory flew into my mind. My mother, embracing me after I fell…

Then I had pushed her away, instinctively. The embrace was startling, even somewhat frightening to me, as it made me feel trapped, but after I had pushed her away, I realized that it was also comforting. It felt…good. Nice. Like the memory of my mother.

And this drove me over the edge.

I honestly had no idea why Courtney CARED. Why was she trying to comfort me, ME, the one who had caused her terror and nightmares!? It made no sense!

So, I pulled back, to the only thing I could stand solidly on, the only thing I knew.

My power.

And the games I played with it.

I grabbed my head, which felt like it was flying apart (actually, all of me felt that way), and shouted, "NO! I'm powerful enough to do whatever I want! No one can stop me! I'm too strong!"

That was the only thing I had known for all these years in the cartridge. My strength, my power, and that I had enough of it that I could do whatever I wanted.

I started to walk toward her. "If I want to play my game with people, I can! If they get hurt, they get hurt! No one can stop me, I'm too powerful!"

Quietly, she calmly, simply stated that there was right and wrong. She asked me to remember that, and know the difference.

"Why are you telling me this?!" I asked, not understanding why she was.

"So that you know." She replied calmly and quietly. She wasn't being calm and quiet in a snobby way, or a look-at-me-staying-cool-while-you-lose-it sort of way, but rather a way that seemed like she was trying very hard to calm me down, or at least not agitate me further.

It wasn't working. Only slowing my progress toward freaking out.

"Don't you think I already know?!" I asked. Of course I knew the difference, I thought automatically, without even pausing to consider what that difference might be.

"I think you've forgotten." She said in her calm, quiet voice.

Shocked, I scrambled in my mind, only to realize she was right.

And I lost it.

Screaming, I opened a pit beneath her feet. She fell, grasping the edge with one hand.

"You forgot that I CONTROL this world!" I screamed, resorting back to my familiar playing ground – how much power I had. "That would have been a good thing to remember before you tried to trick me, hmm!?" Looking back, I see she wasn't trying to trick me, but instead tear down the illusions I had tricked myself with, to let me see the truth. But, in my rather insane state, my logic was scrambled.

"Please, BEN, remember what I've said! You CAN heal instead of continuing to rip your wounds open again! But to do that, you have to know the difference between right and wrong! And you have to choose the right!" She called up to me, her voice not so quiet now, but rather raised to contrast with the wind of the storm that mirrored the hurricane within me.

Her voice wasn't so calm now, but not with concern for herself. Rather, it contained more of that agent that seemed to be trying to pacify me.

Looking back, I realized that her voice was pleading. That's what it was.

But right then, I didn't know what was going on. All I knew was this talk of right and wrong, of stopping my game, had pulled me out of my comfort zone, and I didn't like it.

Not one bit.

It had angered me, and in my crazed state, I did what I knew how to do.

Caused fear.

I raised my hand, and her hold crumbled. She fell into the nightmare I had created.

I didn't engineer this like I did playing. I simply threw her in. Then she would be subjected to the nightmare. Sort of a pre-created thing.

I buried my head further in my hands on my rock in Termina. I felt terrible, and I was sure she hated me now. The nightmare had been a very – put simply – frightening one. I couldn't believe I had lost it like that, and subjected her to that. Now that I was sane, Courtney's words from the previous night were getting to me.

Now that I was sane. I grimaced, thinking of how I had been after I pushed Courtney into the hole.

A lot of pacing. A lot of thunder and lightning. A lot of screaming at the sky, at an absent Courtney, and at an empty field. All at the same time.

After I exhausted myself, I sobbed until I fell asleep. I don't know when the last time I did that was. I don't know if I had ever done that before.

I guess I was overdue for a mental breakdown. I had pretty much been living in a half-crazed state ever since I first met Jadusable. When I first played my game.

I sighed now, shaking my head, still in my hands. Courtney woke up crying, and hadn't tried to talk too me. There had been a lot of times she hadn't tried to talk to me, but I was sure this time it was because she hated me now. She left quickly, and I sat, Courtney's words from last night no longer deflected by my armor of insanity. They sunk in, and I tried to sort through them.

This was new territory to me, and I didn't understand anything. I didn't know how to heal, and I didn't know right from wrong. After so long of hanging onto my power, I didn't know how to measure myself equally against others. Even though I was no longer crazed, I still felt superior, just because I had felt superior for so long. Sort of a habit.

Because of this, I couldn't see why I should stop playing my game (As I thought of my game, I realized I wasn't as eager to play it, because it hadn't been as fun as usual the last time. I figured that was just because it was Courtney I had played with). I certainly would stop playing with Courtney, simply because of my liking (not romantically) for the girl. I didn't realize that I considered her closer to an equal to me than everyone else. So, I would stop playing with her, but why with others?

Keep in mind I still didn't remember the difference between right and wrong. Courtney was correct; I had forgotten.

But, I had forgotten things after becoming an entity that I had remembered since meeting Courtney. For example, comfort. She had comforted me last night.  
Well, she had attempted to, anyways, till I went psycho.

I mused these things over until Courtney returned. I realized I didn't know how to do the things she had talked about. I wished I could have her teach me, but she hated me, so that was out of the question. Maybe I could apologize, but I didn't think that would do anything. She had tried to help me, for some reason, and I had blown it. Now she hated me.

Late that night, Courtney returned in tears. This time, I didn't think her tears were accredited to me. I didn't know what happened, but I felt something for her that I didn't recognize. It bothered me, felt foreign, and I tried to shake it, before remembering what had happened when Courtney had hugged me. I didn't want to freak out again. Foreign emotions weren't inheriantly bad; I remembered, and calmed myself, letting the feeling remain. I remembered the name for it after puzzling over it for quite a while – sympathy. I felt bad for her.

She was quiet for quite a while, and I hesitantly tried to enter her dream. I wanted to apologize, but at the same time, was afraid of how angry she would be with me. To my relief, she wasn't asleep. This also made me anxious, though, knowing I would just have to do it later.

I heard Courtney leave after about an hour. I didn't know where she was going, and the last place I suspected it would be was the lake where I could take physical form. I became lost in anxious, worried thoughts about how I should apologize when she finally slept. I was too absorbed to notice her at the lake.

That is, until she began speaking.

I couldn't make out what they were saying – I was hearing it from underwater – but could tell she was talking to a boy. They spoke for a few minutes. The boy walking. Someone running.

And then Courtney screaming.

I was shocked, to say the least. The running had perplexed me, not alerted me.

After a moment of shock, I began gathering my form in the waters of the lake. I fumbled; it was strange to do without my cartridge there as well, as it had been the first time I had done this without it. I knew I could, it was just slightly difficult.

I pulled myself soundlessly from the waters, I saw some kid pinning Courtney against a tree. He pulled a strange-looking necklace from her neck, chucking it to the ground, trying to lift her shirt as he pinned her kicking feet to the ground.

And then I reached him. I had started running the second I saw him holding her against the tree. I grabbed the back of his collar, pulling him back. As I yanked him back, he somehow managed to knock Courtney sideways. I grabbed the front of his collar with my other hand before releasing my hold on the back of his collar. I heard a dull crack before the sharp crack of my fist connecting with his skull.

The blond kid crumpled to my feet, out cold. I turned my attention to Courtney.

She was lying on the ground where she had fallen. I hurried over to her, kneeling beside her.

"Courtney." I said softly.

No reply.

"Courtney?" I shook her shoulder a bit.

No reply.

I pulled my hand back, and it stuck slightly. I looked at it. The full moon illuminated the warm, red liquid covering my hand, and, as I now noticed, her hair and the rock below her head.

That she had fallen on.

"COURTNEY!"

Catz: OH NOES! What will BEN do?!

This was hard to write. I guess it's because BEN is insane, and I don't know how to write from an insane POV. Though, some may argue that I'm insane...

Cliffhangers are the best! *Evil smirk*

As always, my beautiful Skittles, review!


	23. Improvising

Catz: Slight blood warning. Nothing bad, just a heads-up for those with weak stomachs.

_BEN'S POV_

In a panic, I lifted her head to try to find where she was bleeding from. It wasn't too hard to find; the area around it was all swollen from the impact.

As soon as I found the wound on the back of her head, I rolled her over onto her stomach and pulled her hair away from it best I could without pulling it out. I knew I had to bandage it, too stop the bleeding, but I obviously didn't have a first aid kit on me.

Without hesitating, I grasped the sleeve of my tunic, still damp from the lake, and tore a strip away from my skin. I wrapped it around her head - so it wouldn't fall away the second she moved - and tied it securely, but not tight. I didn't want it to hurt her.

As soon as she was bandaged, one of my sleeves was gone, and the rags were already becoming bloodstained. I began to panic. I needed to get her to her house, where there were hopefully real medical supplies. If nothing else, they must have some sort of clean cloths, like washcloths or even towels.

But I couldn't get her there. I couldn't move far away from the lake without losing strength and eventually just falling to the ground. I couldn't just wait for her to wake up - if I didn't do something, she probably wouldn't.

I glanced around in a panic. My eyes fell on the necklace the blond kid had pulled from Courtney and thrown.

I blinked. Was it filled with…water?

I quickly went over to it, picking it up. It was full of water.

Hmm.

Maybe I could get her to her house.

I emptied the water already in the necklace on the ground. Then I dipped the necklace into the lake, letting it fill with lake water.

I re-zipped the opening on the bag, lifting it to my neck. The clasp was broken, so I just tied the string, double-knotted, lest it come undone.

With the lifeblood I depended on to take physical form transportable around my neck, I experimented. I walked away from the lake.

I felt my energy begin to dwindle a little, and my heart sank. I couldn't do it, after all.

I kept moving, though. I wanted to see how far I could get her. If she was somehow okay, I didn't want her to still be there when that blond kid woke up.

After my energy level had sunk a rather sufficient amount, it just stopped draining.

I stopped, surprised. Then I continued moving.

My energy level stayed constant.

I ran forward a little.

And it stayed constant.

All I could figure was that I couldn't maintain my normal energy levels since I was moving away from the lake, but since I had some of the lake water in this necklace, I could retain some of the energy. So, after it sank to the amount of energy that was contained in the water in the necklace, my energy levels wouldn't sink any lower.

I could carry her back.

I ran back to Courtney. The bandages from my sleeve were now soaked right through and dark red rather than green. My breath caught. This was NOT good.

She was alive, though. I could hear her breathing. It was quick, shallow gasps. But it was there.

I lifted a limp Courtney into my arms and quickly walked (I didn't want to run, the bouncing would just make her worse) toward her house.

Catz: Yikes! I haven't updated in forever!

Yes, I know this one is ridiculously short, but I just feel like that part needed its own chapter.

Although this was a short chapter, fear not, my beautiful skittles! I've already started chapter 24!

As always, my lovelys, review! ;)


	24. One Final Safe Night

_BEN'S POV_

I knew where to go due to being able to sense where my cartridge was. I was assuming it was at her house, anyways.

As I walked further, Courtney seemed to become heavier. I knew it was just my energy draining from moving away from the lake. Soon, it leveled out again.

My energy level with the necklace wasn't too bad, but it wasn't good, either. I could still carry Courtney, but my arms were getting tired. They wouldn't be if I still had the energy I had at the lake. I probably wouldn't win a fight, either.

Which worried me. That blond kid was going to wake up eventually. And the first place he was going to figure Courtney was, when he saw she wasn't there, was obviously going to be her house. I wouldn't be able to ward him off, and she would be in no condition to defend herself.

Shortly, I arrived at what I was assuming was Courtney's house. As I walked into the living room, I recognized it from seeing it out of both the T.V. screen and the computer screen. I was relieved. This was her house. I had been worried she had maybe taken the cartridge over to a friends.

I lay Courtney down on the couch, before going into her bathroom. Thankfully, they did have gauze, and hydrogen peroxide.

I cleaned off the cut before putting the gauze on. The bleeding had slowed monumentally. The wound probably wasn't very deep. I breathed out, relieved. That was good.

She was shivering and pale. The night was abnormally cold for a summer night, and she had lost a lot of blood.

I didn't know what to do. I tried to wake her.

Didn't work.

I figured maybe she would be better in the morning. I lifted her to carry her into her room. Her skin was cold to the touch.

I knew she needed to get warm. I also knew that, even if I covered her with blankets, she didn't have enough body heat to warm them up herself.

I covered her up and then tried to find a thermostat or something. This night was too cold for this time of year.

I spent about twenty minutes looking for a thermostat. I couldn't find one anywhere.

I returned to Courtney. The blankets were the same temperature as when I had first covered her with them. She hadn't been able to warm them at all in twenty minutes.

This wasn't good. With as much blood as she'd lost, she couldn't be this cold. It wouldn't end well.

I looked at my hands.

I wasn't as warm as a regular human…

But I did have some body heat.

I lifted the covers and lay next to Courtney. I looked over at her pale face, and emotion surged through me.

For so long I had considered her just a toy. Then, recently, I had resolved not to play my game with her anymore, simply because I felt a liking for the girl. Almost as if she was a friend. I was beginning to remember a little of friendship from when I was a human. All I remembered was you cared for the person and would protect them from harm.

Now, as I looked at Courtney, I remembered my own friends from long ago. I remembered the feelings I had for them.

Affection…

Loyalty…

Care…

But yet, these feelings weren't the same I felt for Courtney. What I felt for her was stronger.

I couldn't remember what it might be called, though.

All I knew was I cared for Courtney more than I had ever cared for anyone else. And I wanted to protect her.

My thoughts flickered back to the blond boy, who was still out cold at the lake.

He would come here looking for Courtney, I was sure.

He probably wouldn't wake up until morning, though.

I pulled Courtney into an embrace, partly to warm her up and partly because of the affection I felt for the pale, cold girl. I don't know why it drove me to do that. I was still new to life, and having to learn everything of humans again. It just felt right. Nice.

Almost like when she had done the same to me.

We would have to leave in the morning. Neither of us could hold our own in a fight against the blond kid.

But for tonight…

We were safe.

Courtney's shivers slowed as the blankets warmed, and I held my embrace around her sleeping figure as I watched the full moon grace the starless sky.

Catz: Okay guys! Things are gonna get kinda crazy pretty soon! Hope you're prepared!

Aww, BEN's so cute! xD

Hope you enjoyed, my lovely Skittles!

Please review!


	25. Terror and a decision

_Courtney's POV_

I rubbed my eyes, which didn't seem to want to stay open. Normally, if I was this tired, I would have just gone back to sleep. But, my head hurt insanely, and I couldn't figure out why.

"Ah, you're up?"

I lifted my head toward the somehow familiar voice.

Standing there, looking nearly comical in clothes a bit too big for him, and my necklace around his neck, was a blond-haired, blue-eyed, and familiar entity.

For one second, nothing in the world made sense.

Then the memory of last night flooded back, and the world had logic once more.

Well, some logic. Half the puzzle was still missing.

I remembered someone punching Jake, and kneeling beside me…

Blond hair…

Was it BEN?

Why?

I asked the first thing that came to mind.

"What's going on?"

"Well, you hit your head last night and passed out. I carried you back here and bandaged your head. I just woke up about twenty minutes ago."

He gestured to the clothes he was wearing, which I realized were Danny's.

"Sorry for using these, but my tunic was pretty torn up. Also, I don't think it would go over very well with the general public of your world. Too noticeable."

"General public? What do you mean?"

"Oh, yeah. We need to leave."

"Why?"

"I punched that blond kid out last night, but he's probably waking up right about now. He's not going to be a very happy camper. The first place he's going to come, when he realizes you're gone, is here, and neither of us are strong enough to hold our own in a fight against him right now. I'm thinking the best thing to do would be to leave. I was actually coming in to wake you up."

Wide awake now, I realized he was right. We had to leave now. A confrontation with Jake would not go over well.

"Okay. You get some of Danny's clothes - the ones you're wearing now - and bring them in here."

As he got there, I pulled some of my own clothes from my dresser, pushing them into my empty school backpack.

BEN brought in a few of Danny's. I put them in, too. They all fit in the one backpack – there wasn't a whole lot.

I swung the backpack onto my shoulders, going into the bathroom and getting my toothbrush, as well as a new one for BEN. I had almost grabbed Danny's, out of habit. Me and Danny would often randomly go camping on vacations and weekends. He would put the camping stuff, like the tent and sleeping bags, in the car, while I got the clothes and stuff together. I was assuming that was the only reason I could do this without panicking and messing up despite so much adrenaline flooding my system from fear of a confrontation with Jake – I knew the drill, what to get. It was routine.

BEN observed quietly as I did this. As I pulled out a tube of toothpaste, he took a roll of gauze from the medical cabinet.

"In case we need to re-bandage your head." He said quietly.

I wondered where all the fire had gone from the last of my dreams he had appeared in. Had he already fully recovered from that breakdown?

I didn't have a whole lot of time to dwell on that.

"COURTNEY!"

My heart started thumping as I heard a furious voice scream out my name.

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?"

Jake.

He still sounded a while away. We had about a minute.

"C'mon!" I said to BEN urgently.

We sprinted down the hall, when a thought came to me.

"Hold on." I said to BEN.

"Courtney, we don't have time!" He said.

I hurried into my room, grabbing the box that contained my money. I pulled the bills and the few coins from it, swinging the backpack in front of me and shoving the money in.

I ran toward the hall, swinging the backpack back onto my shoulders as I ran.

"COURTNEY!"

Louder. He was close.

I ran to the door, grabbing and yanking on my shoes. I looked over at BEN, who already had Danny's shoes on. Evidently, he realized his leather boots weren't practical for this world and this weather.

"YOU BITCH!"

He was right outside.

"C'mon!"

I ran to the back door, BEN following me.

I heard thumping against the front door – Jake trying to get in. It was locked, though.

I pulled back on the handle on the back door. As it swung open, I heard shattering glass.

"WHERE ARE YOU?"

The front window.

He was in the house now, I could hear. He must have broken the window and climbed in.

I raced out the door with BEN.

I headed not in the direction of our town, but toward a different town in the opposite direction. I knew I couldn't be in our town right now.

As we ran off, I heard more shattering glass and screams of profanity.

Me and BEN both ran hard. We finally reached a small gas station about a mile from my house. I ran up to the payphone.

Panting, I pulled a couple coins from my pack that I had grabbed earlier. I shoved them into the slot, punching in 911.

"911, what is your emergency?"

Breathless, I explained that someone had broken into a house, telling them my address. I didn't specify that it was my address, though.

"Alright, miss, stay where you are and we'll send an officer to the house."

"Thank you. And hurry, please." I said before hanging up.

I knew the dispatcher had told me to stay where I was, but I wasn't going to. It was for the same reason I hadn't specified that the break-in was MY address, and why I hadn't headed into my town.

I had BEN with me.

If they realized my house had been broken into, they were sure to try to find me, just to make sure I was alright and ask me what had happened. Normally, I wouldn't have had too much of an objection to that, but if I had some kid with me, without parents or files, they were going to get suspicious. The last thing I wanted was for them to do some DNA testing to see if he matched one of those missing children and realize he wasn't a human. He would end up at Area 51 or something for the rest of his life.

I knew they could trace where the call came from, and she had told me to stay put, so I was assuming she was going to send someone here too.

I turned to BEN.

"You okay to keep walking?"

He looked just as winded as me, but he nodded.

"Okay. Let's go."

We started off along the roadside toward the next town, which was, unfortunately, miles away.

It would be a long walk.

Catz: 0_o Jake has some mental problems...

Well, this is a pretty long one for you guys...which is good, since I haven't updated in forever. I'm sorry, my Skittles!

I told you things were going to get crazy. ;) That covered most of the crazy, but the fic is going to go down a new path from here on out, as you could probably tell from this chapter. I don't mean that BEN is going to begin killing people, or BEN and Courtney join the mafia or anything. I just mean Courtney isn't going to be at home anymore with BEN pestering her through video games. The fic will have a different tone, but nothing quite that drastic.

Okay, I'm done rambling. ;p

As always, my lovely skittles, review!


	26. A new town and clarification

_Courtney's POV_

Me and BEN finally stumbled into town around eight at night. I don't know when I've ever been more relived to see a town. If you've been walking since nine in the morning – for eleven hours – with no food, and no sources of water (unless you count ponds on the side of the road drinkable, which I don't) you'd be surprised how relived you can feel at the prospect of being able to eat and drink something.

Me and BEN hurried into the first restaurant we saw – I was thanking God that anyone was still open this time of night – and I ordered for us. BEN was still silent. He had been silent the entire time we had been walking. I had been too, glancing at him occasionally. He seemed very uneasy, even uncomfortable. Like a young child in trouble with his parents. He had glanced cautiously over at me once to see me studying him, and had hurriedly turned away. He hadn't met my eyes after that.

I tried to stay calm when ordering, and managed to somehow sit still while waiting for the food. I didn't want to act like a person who had just walked for eleven hours, because I'm sure my house being broken into had made its way into the news. If they had questioned Jake, he may have said something about me, and how I was missing. If I was missing, they were bound to mention it, maybe even put up a picture of me. If I acted like a kid who had just walked a long way, a starving kid, they may put the pieces together.

That would go over like a ton of bricks.

I could tell BEN was hungry too, but he was silent. I was already perplexed by his behavior, and starting to become rather concerned about him.

They finally brought our food. Both of us ate quickly. And silently, but that was to be expected while eating.

When we were done, I slung the backpack, which had been under the table, onto my shoulders, and walked up to the counter to pay–I was so glad I had thought to bring money – and started out with a silent BEN into the darkening summer night.

I wasn't exactly familiar with the town, but I had been here often enough to know that there was a hotel a few blocks away. I figured I would rather sleep there then the streets, so that's where I started toward.

BEN's persistent silence and hanging head bothered me. He wouldn't say a word, wouldn't look up from the ground.

He observed the carpet as I checked into the hotel room. Now, I had enough money with me to last us quite a while – that is, if I wasn't careless with it. This place was by no means fancy – we had passed the game room on the way in, and it consisted of a table with checkers on it and a three-legged ping-pong table- but it wasn't skeevy, either. Me and Danny had stayed here once after a tree crashed into the roof of the house until the house was repaired. While it wasn't exactly a vacation, it wasn't unpleasant. The security of the hotel was valid – no druggies or anything.

Now, the plainness of the hotel meant that the rooms weren't expensive, but like I said, I couldn't be careless. And, after looking at the prices, I figured paying twice as much for a double room as opposed to a single room was careless. That may seem like a stupid move on my part- here's a dangerous, powerful entity who's been stalking me, and I decide to get a room with just one bed-but I really didn't want to burn through the money any faster than I had too. Plus, if figured if he insisted on the bed, I could sleep on the floor.

Somehow, I figured that was unlikely. From the way he had been acting, I figured he wouldn't ask for, much less insist anything. From the meek, quiet was he was acting, I figured he would do pretty much anything I told him too, even sleep in the bathtub or hallway. Not that I would tell him to do either of those.

I got the room key as BEN stared at the plain, but clean, carpet. We walked up the stairs, went into the room, and got ready for bed. BEN brushed his teeth while I changed – he would only move at my instruction - then vice versa.

Surprisingly enough, we had a decent T.V. in our room. The game room didn't even have one, but I figured while T.V.'s may be entertaining, they didn't really classify as games.

When we were both in pajama's – I smiled at BEN in Danny's grey , knee-length and somewhat baggy shorts and too-big white t-shirt – and otherwise ready for bed, I sat on the bed cross-legged. BEN glanced at me, not meeting my eyes, unsure of what he should do now.

"Come sit with me." I prompted.

He deliberated for several moments before shaking his head.

"BEN," I said pleadingly, hopping off the bed and walking over to him. I put my hands on both his shoulders and looked into his lowered face. "What's wrong?"

"I…I'm sorry."

I stared at him, hidden under his mask of hanging blond hair. "For what?"

"For…hurting you. Terrorizing you in that last nightmare."

I blinked, realizing he was referring to the one absent from my memory.

"BEN, don't worry about that. I don't even remember that one."

His head flew up, eyes finally meeting mine, wide with surprise. "What?"

"I don't remember that one." I repeated.

He looked relived for a second, before his miserable look returned once more. "But I still pushed you into the nightmare. I'm sorry."

"BEN, I don't blame you for that. I had put a lot there for you to think about, and it's natural you would be overwhelmed, and that you would react." I kept out the part that he probably only reacted so violently because of his unstable mental state. I didn't know his current mental state, and I figured it would be best not to provoke anything.

Blue eyes stared intently into mine. "Does…does this mean you don't hate me?" He asked quietly and intensely.

"No, I don't hate you, BEN."

I saw the surprise and relief on his face right before he pulled me into a hug.

I stood soundlessly, the voice surprised right out of me. I don't know what I would have said if I had been able to talk, anyways.

"I was so worried…I thought I had lost the only person who cared even a little about me, by being such an asshat…"

His voice broke, and he hugged me tightly for a moment.

I wrapped my own arms around him, comforting the emotional and upset entity currently embracing me. I rested the side of my face against said entity's white t-shirt covered chest, partly to avoid awkwardly staring at his chest, and partly to add to the comfort factor.

After about a minute of holding an embrace, I asked, "If you thought I hated you, why did you think I brought you with me?"

"I…I don't really know." He said.

"Is that why you've been acting so strangely all day?" I questioned.

"…Yeah." He responded.

We were quiet for about another minute, just standing there. Finally, he released his embrace, and I did too, stepping away.

"Will you sit with me now?" I asked.

"…Okay."

He still sounded hesitant. He knew now that I didn't hate him, but he probably still felt bad. I had tried to make it pretty apparent by my words and actions that I not only didn't hate him, but had no hard feelings against him either, and I hoped he realized it. I didn't really want to just come out and say so at the risk of making things awkward and uncomfortable. I didn't even hold his actions before his complete breakdown against him – all the times he had "played" with me – because I knew he wasn't exactly sane then, either. He had been half-crazed that entire time. I could only hope his guilt would subside with time, as I showed him more and more that I held nothing against him.

I sat on the bed, BEN sitting on the edge, away from me. I patted the space next to me, and after a moment, he crawled across the bedspread to the spot I had indicated. I didn't want him to still feel like he needed to keep his distance from me.

I decided to turn on the T.V. The screen lit up to show the nightly news.

"On tonight, a house was broken into this morning." The announcer reported. A picture of my house came up on the screen.

"A front window had been broken, and a young man was found inside the house, pouring gasoline across the walls and floors. He was apprehended by officers, and as he had matches on him, it is suspected he was planning on committing arson. "

"So far, the young man has been taken into police custody, and is reported as being uncooperative with police questioning, apparently exercising his fifth amendment right. It is unknown where the owners of the house are. Anyone with any information is urged to call the police. Up next, after the break…"

I clicked off the T.V.

I was surprised, and relived, beyond words.

Jake was gone now.

I suddenly threw my arms around BEN, sobbing against his shoulder. He tensed up for a moment, but then wrapped his own arms around me, comforting me as I cried.

We stayed that way for a very long time.

Catz: Aww...aren't they adorable?

Skittles, this one took a long time, and unfortunately, so will the ones coming, since school's back in session. *growls* I will, however, try to update at least every weekend.

Thanks for being patient, my beautiful Skittles! I haven't gotten a single flame, o no update lately type of review, and I truly appreciate it.

Hope you enjoyed this overdue chapter, Skittles, and as always, review! ;)


	27. Memory

_BEN's POV _

I stared down at Courtney, who was lying asleep in my arms. She had cried herself to sleep while embracing me, and while her arms had dropped after she had fallen asleep, mine hadn't.

I looked into her face, no longer sad, but instead just…peaceful. I still felt slightly troubled. It wasn't the same way I had felt earlier, though.

No, earlier I had been a mess. I was sure Courtney hated me. Miserable, I couldn't lift my head, couldn't look her in the face. Finally, she had made me tell her what was wrong. I had told her I was sorry for pushing her in the nightmares, and she had said she didn't blame me. She had told me she didn't hate me. I couldn't believe it. Looking back, I can see she wasn't acting like she hated me or anything, but I didn't notice. I was too guilt-ridden and my head was too full of the conclusion I had jumped too.

I had been relieved in a way that can't be put to words.

I threw my arms around Courtney, so relieved that I hadn't lost my only friend. She seemed surprised for a moment, then wrapped her own arms around me. We stayed like that, and I felt that feeling of comfort again.

Finally, Courtney had gone to sit down, and had me sit next to her. She had turned on the T.V., and we had seen that news report about her house being broken into, and that stupid blond kid.

She had thrown her arms around me, sobbing. I hugged her, and she had eventually cried herself to sleep.

And here we were now.

As I stared into her face, I felt something stir within me. I still couldn't place the feeling. I knew I felt all the feelings of friendship for her, as well as the one I couldn't place. This was what made me slightly troubled, not because I didn't like the feeling, but because I couldn't place what it was called.

I also wondered (but wasn't really troubled by) where we would go next. Maybe…since we were on the move anyways…

No. That would never happen. I mean, I didn't even know where it was…

I sighed, thinking back to that day so many years ago. Without Courtney here, I doubt I would have had the strength to.

_The car ride. Gripping the car door to pull myself up. It was just enough to be able to see the green blur of the trees rushing by._

_It was a long car ride. But finally, me, my mother and father – mommy and daddy, as I called them back then – arrived at the quiet county house._

_We pulled into the driveway, where a bunch of other cars were._

_"Are you excited to see all your cousins?" Mommy asked when she opened my door and I jumped out._

_"Yeah!" I replied happily. We were at Aunt Iris's house, for what Daddy called a family reunion. _

_I ran into the living room, only to be apprehended by my cousins tackling me. Ricky and Sammy- Ricky six, Sammy five. I myself was only five at the time. They were Aunt Iris's sons, so they lived here._

_Ricky pulled me to my feet, and I ran through the house, greeting all my relatives. I had other cousins, but they were older than me or babies. Ricky and Sammy were my favorites, as they were in my age group._

_Finally, the grown-ups shooed us outside, along with the rest of the kids._

_Ricky and Sammy came over to me, grinning._

_"We wanna show you something AWESOME that we found. Come on."_

_The three of us stole away from the unfenced backyard into the trees, unnoticed by the older children._

_After a while of walking through the trees, we finally arrived at a small clearing. Ricky and Sammy grinned as we ran up to it._

_"Here it is!"_

_"Whoa…" I said as I stared into the deep, dark waters._

_"It's called a 'swimming hole'. Once you learn to swim, we'll bring you out here, and we can all swim together."_

_I had been eager to learn to swim for a very long time. Daddy said he would teach me someday soon._

_"I betcha it's a hundred feet deep" Ricky said, staring into the deep water. I thought so too. It looked like it never ended._

_We were on a small ledge above the water. I stepped forward just a little to see the hole better, and suddenly the ledge crumbled beneath my feet. Ricky and Sammy both cried out behind me, and I screamed as I fell seven feet from the ridge into the water below. I hit the water, going under. I flailed, managing to pull my head back above the water._

_"Help!" I cried as I resurfaced. I looked up, back at the ridge, where Ricky and Sammy both were, staring fretfully into the waters. _

_There was no way they could reach me. The ledge was too high up for them to reach down to me, and although there were flat parts along the sides of the water, the swimming hole was too wide for them to reach me._

_"Swim to the side!" Ricky cried out._

_"I can't swim!" I called back._

_"You can do it! You can!" Ricky shouted back._

_I couldn't, though. I couldn't swim._

_I went under again, somehow managing to pull myself back above the waters. I couldn't stay up, though. I was getting tired, the water was so cold…I couldn't keep my head above the water, no matter how hard I tried._

_I heard my anguished cousin's wails as I went under once more, and, though I struggled to resurface, the water was stronger._

_My lungs burned, wanting air. Finally, unable to resist any longer, I instinctively inhaled. My lungs filled with water; cold, heavy, suffocating. I tried to cough, I tried to breath, I couldn't. I couldn't fight any longer, and my body went limp._

_The last thing I saw as I sank, visible in the clearing, and distorted by the layers of water, was the sun._

I wiped my eyes, ridding myself of the tears I found rolling down my face. It hurt to remember.

"It'll never happen." I whispered to myself, rolling my head back against the headboard.

It was impossible.

Yet…

Though before I would have never thought it would happen either…

Here I sat, sane.

Maybe…

It wasn't quite impossible.

I shifted my position so I could lie down while still holding Courtney in my arms, and closed tired eyes.

Maybe…

Just maybe.

Catz: Sad chapter… :( Poor BEN.

What the heck is BEN talking about, when he says it's impossible? You'll see ;)

Nice long chapter for all of ya, since I haven't updated in a loooong time.

Hope you enjoyed, Skittles, and review please!


	28. Revealing

_BEN's POV_

I woke up in late morning. Courtney was still asleep. She must have completely exhausted herself last night crying.

I lay there, feeling – for the first time in nearly forever – hopeful. Real hope.

_Maybe…_

I had thought last night that maybe it was possible.

And that was what gave me this newfound hope.

Hope that it was possible.

Carefully, as to not disturb the sleeping girl in my arms, I reached into my pocket, and pulled out the small gray plastic piece.

I held the cartridge in front of me as I ran my thumb over the word "majora".

I had been downstairs as that blond kid that I punched out was heading toward the house. Courtney had diverted into her room, and I pulled on the shoes that would fit me – her brothers, I assume. My boots would get too hot in this weather.

Courtney was still upstairs. I turned my head, and suddenly saw my cartridge on the entertainment center.

I ran across the carpet to it. I wanted it with me – it still was my vessel, still was me, even when I was in my physical form. I didn't need it with me to retain my form, but I still wanted it with me. Also, the last place I wanted to leave it was in the house with that kid. If he destroyed it, that wouldn't be exactly fantastic for me.

I had pocketed the cartridge and hurried back to the entrance as Courtney had ran downstairs.

And now here we were.

I lay there. I didn't know how I knew…

Just that I did know.

That if I returned to the place I had drowned, with my cartridge, and once again was immersed in the waters…

I could be human again.

My cartridge was necessary because that was still where I resided. I could mess around on the internet because I had been connected to it; I could retain my physical form because of the water around my neck. But, if my connection with the internet was destroyed, I just couldn't do anything online; I still was in my cartridge. If the necklace was to snap and the water fall to the floor (which I really hoped would NOT happen), my conscience would simply return to the cartridge. I always resided in it, regardless of other forms I took or connections I made.

This cartridge was me.

Now, I had my cartridge. I had hope that this could happen.

There was still a missing puzzle piece, though. A vital one.

The biggest one.

The missing puzzle piece was that I had NO IDEA where the waters I had drowned in were.

I knew they were in the woods surrounding my Aunt Iris's house, but I didn't know where my Aunt Iris's house was. I had only been five at the time – even if I had known where it was, I didn't remember now. Hell, I didn't even know what STATE it was in! I had no idea how to find it, either. I figured I could use a map, like I had seen my mom and dad doing on car rides – including the one to Aunt Iris's – but not only did I not know how to read a map, I didn't know where to find one, or which state the map should be of.

I glanced at Courtney.

I didn't want to be an inconvenience, really…

But this was unspeakably important to me.

Maybe she would help me.

Maybe…

I could be human again.

The future had a much brighter – albeit uncertain – tint.

Catz: Did...did I screw this up?

I had a bit of uncertainty with this chapter. I just don't know if I should have laid it all out like that, what BEN would have to do to become human again.

What do you guys think? Did I mess up? If so, what could I have done differently? Please, let me know!

Anyways, even if I did screw it up, I hope you enjoyed, my beautiful Skittles! And please, review!

Plus...OVER FIVE THOUSAND VIEWS ON FROM SHALLOW WATERS! Hooray! I love you guys so much!


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